Hyderabad: It was once again a local Hyderabad amateur who held the spotlight. Shreya Pal turned in a very strong finish to hole three birdies in the last five holes for a five-under 67 in the first round of the 12th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Boulder Hills Golf and Country Club.

Shreya, also a Hyderabad girl like Sneha, was fifth last week in the 11th Leg, where Sneha, also an amateur, won the title. On Wednesday, Shreya went even better in terms of scores as she shot five under 67 with six birdies against a sole bogey in the first round.

She opened a three-shot lead over Ananya Datar, who is also looking for her first win on the Tour. Ananya also had a fine birdie-birdie finish for a card of two-under 70, while Gauri Karhade birdied the 18th for a round of 71 to be third.

Gaurika Bishnoi and Sneha Singh were tied fourth with rounds of even par 72 each as the field demonstrated great strength.

Ishvari Prasanna was sixth with 73, while Siddhi Kapoor, Amandeep Drall and Afshan Fatima shot 74 each to be Tied-seventh. Neha Tripathi (75) completed the Top-10.

Shreya, who turns 17 next week, has been in good nick and has shown great potential. She finished runners-up at the TrueVisions International Junior event in Thailand after tying with Malaysian Liyana Durisic.

Last month she was the best Indian at Tied-13th in the Future Golf Champions event in the US, with excellent scores of 72-73-73. She has Top-10 finishes in four events on the IGU Tour earlier this year. Overall she has had six Top-10 finishes this year.

Ananya was bogey free at one-under for 11 holes before she bogeyed twice against three birdies to finish at 70.

Sneha was once again prolific with birdies as she had six, but she also gave away four bogeys and a double bogey.

 Tee times for Round 2, Leg 12, Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, Boulder Hills Golf and Country Club, Hyderabad:

8:30 AM: Suchitra Ramesh 84, Oviya Reddi 84;

8:40 AM: Jyotsana Singh 82, Ridhima Dilawari 81;

8:50 AM: Anisha Agarwalla 79, Gursimar Badwal 79, Anousha Tripathi 79;

9:00 AM: Gurjot Badwal 77, Khushi Khanijau 77, Neha Tripathi 75;

9:10 AM: Afshan Fatima 74, Amandeep Drall 74, Siddhi Kapoor 74;

9:20 AM: Ishvari Prasanna 73, Sneha Singh (A) 72, Gaurika Bishnoi 72;

9:30 AM: Gauri Karhade 71, Ananya Datar 70, Shreya Pal (A) 67;