Nalini one shot clear of field

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Nalini Singh Siwach

Birdies were hard to come by on a tough opening day at the sixth leg of the Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro Tour event at the Golden Greens in Gurgaon on Tuesday as Nalini Singh Siwach took a slender lead in the first round with a card of 76.

Nalini, winner of the last leg, was one shot clear of Neha Tripathi and Smriti Mehra, who shot 77 each. Interestingly both Nalini and Neha had just one birdie each at the Golden Greens course, which proved a handful for the golfers.
Smriti, aggressive as usual, turned in three birdies but she also had six bogeys and a double.
She had bogeys on her first three holes. Smriti’s three birdies came on the eighth, the ninth and the 18th.
Saaniya Sharma was the only other golfer to come inside 80 as she carded 79, while Preetinder Kaur shot 81. Nikki Ponappa and Ankita Tiwana carded 82 each.
Vani Kapoor, who won a pro event at the same course when still an amateur, had to struggle with a round of 83 that had seven bogeys and two doubles and no birdies.
Nalini had the best start with three pars and birdied the fourth. But she bogeyed the next four. She dropped another shot for a bogey before parring the rest.
Pallavi Jain and Shraddhanjali Singh withdrew because of medical reasons, while Nalini Singh (88), Rashika Chauhan (amateur) (88) and Rani Sonti (91) missed the cut.