Experienced Neha Tripathi managed to sneak home the lead as the entire 18-member playing contingent found the going extremely difficult in the opening round of the Hero-KGA Women’s Pro Golf Championship here on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old former Order of Merit champion alternated from the brilliant to the ordinary before settling for a two-over 74 to open up a one-shot lead over Trisha Sunil.
Previous leg winner Gursimar Badwal carded 76 to share the third spot with talented amateur Gurbani Singh as none of the players were able to come to terms with the challenging KGA course.
Neha opened with a birdie. But the celebrations didn’t last long as she dropped bogeys on the second and third holes. She fought back to card birdies on the sixth and seventh but a bogey on the ninth meant she has to take the turn at level-par.
She kick-started her inward journey with a birdie but yet again she undid her good work with a bogey on the 12th. Thereafter she somehow steadied herself and just when she appeared to be headed home with a handy three-shot cushion, she double-bogeyed the closing 18th.
Leading scores (after 72 holes, ‘A’ denotes amateur): 74: Neha Tripathi; 75: Trisha Sunil; 76: Gursimar Badwal, Gurbani Singh (A); 77: Rhea P Saravanan (A), Amandeep Drall, Pranavi Urs (A).