Sharmila, Ankita share opening round honours

Sharmila Nicollet displayed the form of old to share the opening round honours with Ankita Tiwana in the 11th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Wednesday.

Sharmila, a two-time Order of Merit winner but bang in the middle of a major loss in form, carded a fine one-under 71 to end joint first along with Ankita at the Prestige Golfshire.

Amandeep Drall, champion last week at the Karnataka Golf Association, was tied for the second place with Mehar Atwal at 72 while Merit List leader Neha Tripathi was lying fifth a further shot behind as the tour finally witnessed some intense action following several rounds of lop-sided action.

Favourite Vani Kapoor was bunched with Nikki Ponnappa and Trisha Sunil at 74.Sharmila didn’t enjoy the best of starts, dropping bogeys on the second and seventh holes. She reduced the deficit by one shot with a birdie on the ninth but a bogey on the 12th negated that piece of good work.

The Bengalurean, however, signed off strongly, birdieing the 13th, 14th and 18th holes.

Ankita’s round was also similar to Sharmila’s. She made one birdie against one bogey on the opening nine but fired two birdies to one bogey on the inward journey.

Leading scores (after 18 holes, ‘A’ denotes amateur): 71: Ankita Tiwana, Sharmila Nicollet; 72: Mehar Atwal, Amandeep Drall; 73: Neha Tripathi; 74: Vani Kapoor, Nikki Ponappa, Trisha Sunil