Hyderabad: Sneha Singh, playing in her hometown, slotted two late birdies on the 16th and 17th to ensure a one-shot lead at the end of the first round of the 11th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club here on Wednesday.
Trailing Sneha were three players, Nayanika Sanga, Hitaashee Bakshi and Shweta Mansingh, who landed one of the two eagles seen on the day.
Sneha had a superb front nine with three birdies and no bogeys. She added a fourth birdie on 10th but was pushed back with consecutive bogeys on 12th and 13th. She fought back with birdies on 16th and 17th to ensure a card of four-under 68.
Sneha has won once as an amateur this season and has also won in previous seasons. Now she is looking for her maiden success after turning professional.
Nayanika and Hitaashee may well have tied with Sneha, but both had bogeys on 17th. In contrast, Shweta made a dash towards the end. She was even par after 12 with two birdies and two bogeys. An eagle on Par-5 14th and a birdie on the Par-3 16th made the day great for her with 69.
Pranavi Urs, winner of four events this season and a hot favourite this week, had a modest 2-under with four birdies against two bogeys. She was tied for fifth with amateur Keerthana R Nair and Seher Atwal, one of the winners this season. They all had 2-under 70 each.
Amateur Heena Kang also had an eagle on Par-5 14th but she had contrasting nines. She had a double bogey, three bogeys and just one birdie for 4-over 40 on the front nine. She rallied on the back nine with three birdies and an eagle in her last six holes.
Amateur Vidhatri Urs with 1-under 71 and Ishvari Prasanna (72) rounded off the Top-10.
–IANS