Vani stays on top with gritty show

Delhi girl opens up 4-stroke lead over Smriti

 Demanding conditions continued to take a huge toll on the golfers for the second day in succession in the third leg of the Hero-WGAI Women Pro Tour here on Wednesday.

Overnight leader Vani Kapoor, who scored the only sub-par card in the opening round, couldn’t repeat her heroics but managed to stay in front with a fighting display at the Prestige Golfshire.

Battling heavy winds and difficult pin position that threw everyone out of gear, Vani stitched together a battling five-over 77 for a two-day total of 148 and open up a crucial four-shot lead over second leg winner Smriti Mehra (76) and amateur Aditi Ashok. Neha Tripathi (77) and Nalini Singh Siwach (80) were tied for fourth at 154.

Fightback

After a disastrous opening nine where she bogeyed thrice -- 3rd, 4th and 7th -- and drained a double bogey on the eighth, the 18-year-old hardly allowed the nerves to get the better of her with a fine fightback on the inward journey.

She picked up shots on the ninth and 13th holes but bogeys on the 10th and 15th spoiled her card. “The conditions were extremely difficult today,” said Vani, who will heading into the final round with a four-stroke lead for the second time this season.

‘Handy lead’

“I’m aware of what happened in the opening leg at KGA where I squandered a handy lead to finish runner-up. I’m just going to go out there, play my own game and hope for the best. Not expecting anything.”

Smriti shot the day’s best card of 76 to give herself a great chance of a succession of titles.

Six-over after 13 holes following six bogeys, the veteran sunk birdies on the 14th and 16th holes to stay in the hunt.

“The stage is set nicely,” said Smriti. “I always like to fightback and trailing by four shots is no big deal in golf. If I can play a solid round anything could happen.”

Leading scores (after 36 holes, ‘A’ denotes amateur): 148: Vani Kapoor (71, 77); 152: Smriti Mehra (76, 76), Aditi Ashok (A) (74, 78); 154: Neha Tripathi (77, 77), Nalini Singh Siwach (74, 80); 157: Saaniya Sharma (76, 81); 159: Ankita Tiwana (83, 76); 161: Nikita Arjun (A) (80, 81); 168: Suchitra Ramesh (A) (82, 86).