Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour 2015 – Leg 15

Sharmila jumps into lead on day two

Greater Noida, 3^rd September: Sharmila Nicollet fired 5 under 67 to lead the field after Round two of the 15^th leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Jaypee Greens here on Wednesday. One stroke behind is rookie Amandeep Drall who returned with a score of 2 under 70 to total 142 after the second round. The INR 6,00,000  event will culminate tomorrow.

Hero MotoCorp sponsored Sharmila Nicollet, who is eyeing her first title of the year, was in stellar form and carded nine birdies, which is a record for a single day in the entire season. The Bengaluru professional, known for her ferocious driving, made use of the conditions well and carded four birdies in her front nine on the 1^st, 4^th, 7^th and 8^th holes, along with three bogies on the 3^rd, 5^th and 6^th holes. In the back nine, Sharmila was a transformed player and carded a flurry of birdies on the 11^th, 12^th, 13^th, 14^th and 16^th holes with just a lone blemish on the 10^th. She finished with a total of 141 after two rounds.^.                                                  

Amandeep Drall started the pursuit of her third title of the year with a bang, carding three birdies on the 4^th, 5^th and 8^th holes, while dropping a shot on the 2^nd . She started her back nine with a double bogey on the 10^th  but rectified her mistake soon with three birdies on the 13^th, 14^th and 16^th holes. She could have ended the day tied for the first spot but for a bogey on the 17^th. The Panchkula professional ended Round Two with a score of 2 under 70 to be just a shot adrift of the leader.

Overnight leader Neha Tripathi came up with an effort of 3 over 75 to occupy the third spot on the leaderboard. Neha struggled to stitch together a series of consistent shots and her round consisted of three birdies on the 1^st, 9^th and 13^th holes, along with six bogies on the 2^nd, 3^rd, 10^th,11^th, 14^th and 18^th holes. The Kolkata golfer finished with a score 145 after 36 holes.

Kapurthala’s Gursimar Badwal ended with a level par score to take the fourth position. Gursimar carded four birdies on the 8^th, 9^th, 12^th and 14^th holes, which were however cancelled out by the same number of bogies on the 3^rd, 4^th, 10^th and 17^th holes. She finished with a total of 146.

Veteran Smriti Mehra who started the day in second position could not replicate her good form and returned with a score of 5 over 76. She carded three birdies on the 8^th, 10^th and 14^th holes, while dropping shots on the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 15^th and 16^th holes, along with a double on the 9^th to finish fifth with a total of 147 . Amateur Diksha Dagar is in the sixth position with a total score of 151. She played a birdie-less round with five bogies on the 2^nd, 6^th,7^th, 15^th and 16^th holes.

Hero Order of Merit leader Vani Kapoor had an indifferent day in the field and finished seventh with a total of 152 after the end of the second day’s play. Her error-prone round consisted of two birdies as against six bogies and a double.

Amateur Anisha Padukone with a total score of 153 is in the eighth position followed by Chandigarh’s Saaniya Sharma in ninth position with a score of 154.

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