Mumbai: Smriti Mehra fired a sizzling 3 under 67 to grab the pole position after the first round of the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club here on Tuesday. Three shots adrift, in second position at level par is Gursimar Badwal. The INR 6,00,000 event will culminate on 25th February.

Smriti Mehra had a shaky start and carded a bogey on the very first hole. Thereafter, the professional from Kolkata regained her composure, carding two birdies on the 3rd and 8th holes in her front nine. She added three more birdies on the 10th, 12th and 13th holes, which were neutralised by a bogey on the 11th and a double on the 15th. However, an eagle on the 18th hole helped her to secure a three shot lead over Gursimar Badwal.

Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal played a cautious round, carding two birdies on the 8th and 18th holes with an equal number of bogeys on the 5th and 11th to take the second position with a score of even par 70 after the first round. She is followed by Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi in third position. Neha started impressively, playing a bogey-free front nine with birdies on the 1st and 5th holes. She added another birdie on the 12th hole, but two double bogeys on the 11th and 16th marred her scoreline and she had to be content with a score of 1 over 71 after 18 holes.

Kiran Matharu, Sharmila Nicollet and Gauri Monga are all tied for the fourth position with identical scores of 2 over 72 on the first day. Hero Motocorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet started her campaign today with aplomb, firing an eagle on the 3rd hole, followed by a birdie on the 5th. However, the Bengaluru golfer could not sustain the momentum and dropped four shots on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 18th holes along with a double on the 10th. She added one more birdie to her tally on the 16th hole. Overseas player Kiran Matharu’s eventful round included an eagle on the 16th hole along with three birdies on the 6th, 7th and 12th. She also carded five bogeys on the 9th, 10th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes along with a double on the 15th. Delhi’s Gauri Monga carded three birdies on the 6th, 9th and 12th holes while dropping shots on the 4th, 7th, 10th, 15th and 17th.

The Delhi trio of Ankita Tiwana, Mehar Atwal and Mehak Sharma are in tied seventh position at 3 over 73 followed by Pune’s Shweta Galande in 10th position with a score of 4 over 74.