Woman golfer Kiran fires 67 to grab early lead

Kiran Matharu shot the lowest round of the season, five-under 67, to grab the opening round lead in the eighth leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf Tour at the par-72 Classic Golf & Country Club here on Wednesday.

The Indian origin English golfer played a bogey-free round to steer two strokes clear of second placed Smriti Mehra, who carded 69. Pune's Shweta Galande and Noida's Vaishavi Sinha are tied for the third spot with identical scores of 70.

Kiran, who has played in the Ladies European Tour (LET), played a cautious even-par front nine. However, she turned up the heat in the latter half, firing five birdies on the 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th and 18th holes.

Veteran Smriti started impressively, carding three consecutive birdies on the third, fourth and fifth. However, her back nine was a mixed bag.

She carded three more birdies on the 12th, 14th and 18th holes with an equal number of bogeys on the 11th, 16th and 17th. She finished with a score of three-under 69.

Shweta carded three birdies on the 5th, 10th and 14th while dropping just one shot on the 17th.

Vaishavi had a shaky start, carding a bogey on the first hole. However, she made a strong comeback, carding two birdies on the second and eighth holes in her front nine. She carded two more birdies in her back nine on the 13th and 16th holes while dropping a shot on the 10th hole.

Neha Tripathi scored 71 with birdies on the third, fifth and ninth. She also carded bogeys on the second and 16th to be placed fifth.

She is followed by Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor who carded an even-par 72. Vani played a cautious round, carding birdies on the ninth and 18th. Her lone blemish on the day was a double bogey on the eighth hole.

She is followed by Priya Puri and Delhi's Mehar Atwal, who are placed seventh and eighth respectively after the first round.