Vani Kapoor fired six birdies, three on either side of the par-70 Bangalore Golf Club to card 3-under 67 in the opening round of the 8th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour.
Related: Steady Amandeep Drall back in winner’s circle on WGAI
A three-time winner in the current season, Vani recorded one of four under par rounds of the day, as she led Durga Nittur by one and amateurs Saanvi Somu and Zara Anand by two shots.
Four players including Gaurika Bishnoi, Ananya Garg, Anvitha Narender and Karishma Govind were tied for the fifth place with cards of even par 70 each.
Vani, whose streak of three wins ended last week when she failed to add to that in the seventh leg, was in great form on the first day. She opened with a bogey but birdied three times in the next four holes. A bogey on the eighth meant she was 1-under when she made the turn.
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On the back nine, Vani parred the first four holes, before finding gains on the 14th and the 16th. A bogey on the 17th was her sole dropped shot on the back nine before she ended the day with a sixth birdie for a round 67.
Durga, who marked her 23rd birthday last week, had two birdies and no bogeys in her round of 68. Her birdies came on the par-5 fourth and the Par-5 eighth and she was the only player not to drop a shot in the first round.
Saanvi picked two birdies in the last four holes and shot 1-under 69.
Zara, who has been in good form, was going very strong with five birdies against just one bogey through 14 holes and was 4-under. She then dropped three shots in the last four holes on the 15th, 16th, and the 18th to slip to 1-under and Tied-third.
Ananya had one birdie and one bogey, while Gaurika Bishnoi had four birdies, including three in a row from the sixth to the eighth, and four bogeys.
Anvitha, like leader Vani, had six birdies but also dropped three bogeys and a triple bogey on Par-5 17th. Karishma had two birdies on the front nine, but those were negated by a double bogey on the back nine.
Five players Sachika Singh, Khushi Khanijau, Oviya Reddi, Seher Atwal and Ridhima Dilawari were tied for the ninth place with scores of 2-over 72 each.
The surprise of the day was Amandeep Drall, who won the seventh leg last week but shot 5-over 75 and was Tied-19th, and Rhea Purvi Saravanan, winner of the first leg, who shot 3-over 73 to be Tied-14th.
