Noida: Vani Kapoor seemed off-colour with a round of three-over 75, but she still managed to grab the opening day’s lead in the Usha Northern India Ladies Golf, a four decade old tournament, on the India Ladies Circuit.

Vani has been in good form and even beat the top pros in one of the Professional events while still being an amateur. On Tuesday, when it seemed to be a difficult scoring day for the girls, she registered a round of 75 with two birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey at the Noida Golf Club.

One shot behind her was Gurbani Singh, winner of the Sri Lankan Amateur Open last month. She had no birdies, but despite four bogeys she brought in 76 and was lying second. Gursimer Badwal shared the second spot with Gurbani at 76. Gursimer had a fine start with a birdie on the first, but in the middle of the round she dropped three birdies in a row from eighth to tenth and then two more on 13th and 14th.

Raksha Phadke carded 77 to lie fourth. She had one birdie on the 11th and four bogeys and one double on par-3 tenth.

Aditi Ashok had an even more disappointing day with a six-over 78 with just one birdie and seven bogeys, and was fifth. Behind her were Anisha Padukone (81), Nanki Chadha (82) and Mehar Atwal (83).

The 54-hole event concludes on Thursday.