Amateur Mannat Brar shot 2-under 68 to grab a two-shot lead over the field after the first round of the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club.
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Mannat, who will represent India at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championships in Vietnam next week, looked set for a very low round as she was four-under through 12 holes, but three bogeys in a span of four holes from the 14th to the 17th saw her fall back. She finished with a birdie on the 18th for a 68.
Three players, Kriti Chowhan, Seher Atwal and Shweta Mansingh were tied for the second place with rounds of even par 70 each.
The highlight of Shweta’s round was a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th to the 17th as she landed four birdies and four bogeys. Seher, a past winner on the Tour, had two birdies and two bogeys while Kriti Chowhan also had two each of birdies and bogeys.
The 17-year-old Mannat, who last year became the first Indian to reach the semi-finals of the R&A Girls Amateur, is also the winner of the All India Amateur and Junior Girls Championship. She birdied first, fourth and sixth and turned in 3-under and added a fourth birdie on the 12th. She bogeyed the 14th, 15th and the 17th before closing with another birdie on the 18th.
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The crowded leader board had five players scoring 2-over 72 each with the group including the 2024 Hero Order of Merit winner, Hitaashee Bakshi, last week’s runner-up Vani Kapoor, the experienced Neha Tripathi, Jasmine Shekar and amateur Anuradha Chaudhuri.
Six others led by Sneha Singh, winner of the last event on the HPWGT, three other amateurs Saanvi Somu, Keerthana Rajeev and Aradhana Manikandan besides Ananya Datar and Lavanya Jadon were tied for the tenth place after carding 3-over 73 each.
Some of the other other big names did not have a great day as Ridhima Dilawari (74) was T16, Gaurika Bishnoi and Khushi Khanijau (75 each) were T21, Amandeep Drall (76) was T23, and Rhea Purvi (77) was T25.
