Vani stages strong comeback to win Leg 1 of HWPGT

Delhi's Vani Kapoor continued her fine run as she upstaged Bengaluru golfer Sharmila Nicollet to win the first Leg of the Hero Women's Professional Golf tour, which concluded at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, here today.
Vani, who made a strong comeback yesterday to finish at second position trailing by a single shot to Sharmila, carded a two over 74 in the final round and finished with a total score of 229, three shots clear of her nearest rival.
Two birdies on the 12th and 15th helped her return with the best score of the day. Just like the previous two days, golfers found it extremely tough to score and Vani also had four bogeys on the fifth, seventh, 11th and 18th holes.

Sharmila, the overnight leader, had a triple bogey on the 10th hole and this cost her dearly. She was ahead of Vani at the front nine but after the triple bogey it became impossible to come back under tough playing conditions.
Shweta Galande had a good outing as she carded 76 in the third round and finished third with a total score of 237 along with local girl Neha Tripathi, who returned with an eight over 80 in the third round.
Ankita Tiwana and Smriti Mehra were tied at fifth position with identical scores of 238. Pallavi Jain (242) finished seventh and Preetinder Kaur (243) was placed eight.

The Rs 5,000,000 event is the first in the series of 14 this year.