Amandeep second at Ladies European Qualifying School

Amandeep Drall, taking a leaf out of Aditi Ashok's book, fired a six-under 66 on the opening day of the Final Stage of the Ladies European Tour's Lalla Aicha Tour School, here.
Amandeep, leader on the Women's Golf Association of Indian Merit list for the current season, was tied-second, while a bunch of other Indian girls also shone on the first day.
A year ago, India's Aditi won the LET Q-School final stage and topped the Rookie of the Year standings. She finished second overall with two wins and a series of other Top-10 finishes and also qualified for a limited status on the LPGA in United States.

Celine Boutier from France posted an opening round of seven-under-par 65 to take a one stroke lead, while Amandeep and LET rookie Natalia Escuriola Martinez from Spain also started strongly, with a pair of 66s on the Amelkis and Samanah courses respectively.
Vani Kapoor (69) was lying Tied-8th and Saaniya Sharma (70) was Tied-13th. Neha Tripathi (72) was Tied-34th. However, Sharmila Nicollet (75), Gaurika Bishnoi (77) and Anisha Padukone (A) (80) were way behind.
Players who finish in the top 30 and ties will earn Ladies European Tour Membership in category 8 for 2017, while those that finish from positions 31st to 60th and ties after the cut will earn Membership in Category 9b.

Amandeep's 66 included five birdies on the back nine of the Samanah course and the 24-year-old from Chandigarh commented afterwards.

"The start was perfect. I started with a birdie and then a par on the second hole and then a birdie on the third hole, so that kind of set me off. Then I was just playing one shot at a time. On the back nine, I was sticking it closer and I holed a lot of putts, so five-under on the back. On the front nine I was struggling to find the pace but then on the back nine I figured it out."

She cited the LET's 2016 Rookie of the Year Aditi Ashok as an inspiration to all of the seven Indian golfers in the field.
"She won the Q-School last year and then she won two events in her rookie year, so that really motivated us. We thought if she can do it, then we can do it as well," she said.
The field of 115 players is split in two groups and will alternate over the first four rounds between Amelkis Golf Club and Samanah Country Club. There will be a cut to the top 60 and ties after the fourth round and the fifth and final round will be contested at Samanah Country Club.