Bengaluru: Delhi youngster Vani Kapoor fired 5 under 66 to steal the show and grab an early lead on day one of the 14th leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015 here on Wednesday. Trailing her by a two stroke deficit in second position is Bengaluru’s Sharmila Nicollet. The INR 5,00,000 event will culminate on 14th August.

Vani started the pursuit of her fifth title of the season with a bang, carding three birdies in her front nine on the 1st, 2nd and 4th holes, while dropping a lone shot on the 9th. The Hero Order of Merit leader kept the momentum going in the second half as well, carding four birdies on the 11th, 14th, 15th and 17th holes, along with a bogey on the 16th hole. Her tally of seven birdies was maximum by any player on the day.

Hero Motocorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet, who returned to the Tour after missing a couple of events due to her European commitments, was in good touch and fired a blemish-free round of 3 under 68. Her round consisted of three birdies on the 1st, 7th and 9th holes, which was enough for her to take the second position on the opening day and stay on course for her maiden title this year.

Rookie Amandeep Drall returned with a score of 1 under 70 to finish in third position at the end of the day’s play. The Panchkula golfer carded two birdies in her front nine on the 4th and 5th holes, along with an equal number of bogies on the 3rd and 9th holes. She played a bogey-free back nine with a lone birdie on the 12th hole.

Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi carded four birdies on the 1st, 9th,13th, and 15th holes. She could have returned with a much better score, but bogies on the 3rd, 6th,7th and 16th holes meant she had to finish the day placed fourth on the leaderboard with a level par score.

Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal came up with an effort of 3 over 74 to end the day in fifth position after 18 holes. Gursimar’s round consisted of two birdies on the 1st and 13th holes, along with five bogies on the 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 14th and 18th holes.

The Delhi duo of Ankita Tiwana and Gauri Monga, along with Pune’s Shweta Galande are in tied sixth place with identical scores of 4 over 75 after Round One.

Ankita carded three birdies as against seven bogies. Gauri’s card consisted of five bogies and a lone birdie on the 1st hole. Shweta Galande, who had won here in 2013, failed to live up to expectations and played a birdie-less round with four bogies.

Jaipur’s Afshan Fatima is in ninth position with a score of 6 over 77. Delhi’s Mehar Atwal and amateur Trisha Sunil of Bangalore are in tied 10th position with a score of 7 over 78.

The Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015 comprises a total of nineteen legs spanning across key locations in India.