Saaniya slips as Sharmila grabs lead on Day 2

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22 

Overnight leader Saaniya Sharma carded a six-over 76 to slip to fourth position even as Amandeep Drall jumped a place to second position on the second day of the fourth leg of the Hero Women's Golf Professional Tour at the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata today.      

Sharmila Nicollet, meanwhile, carded the only sub-par round of three-under 67 to grab the lead at the end of the second round. 

Trailing her by a margin of one shot are Panhkula's Amandeep and Vani Kapoor of New Delhi with identical scores of 143. The INR 7,00,000 event will culminate tomorrow. 

Sharmila made an impressive comeback from eighth position to take the lead. She started with aplomb, carding a bogey-free front nine, with birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 7th holes. In her back nine, she carded a birdie and a bogey apiece on the 13th and 16th holes respectively, to put herself in a strong position to win her first event of the season. 

Amandeep played with utmost caution, carding an even-par front nine. She carded a birdie on the 13th hole, but could not sustain the momentum and dropped shots on the 14th, 16th and 17th holes to finish her round with a score of two-over 72. 

Vani's round was a mixed bag. She had a shaky start, carding a bogey on the very first hole. She went on to card birdies on the 3rd, 6th and 7th holes, while dropping two shot on the 5th and one on the 8th in her front nine. 

On her way in, she carded birdies on the 12th and 15th holes, but again lost the advantage with bogeys on the 10th and 14th. A double bogey on the 18th hole did not help matters as she finished the round with a score of three-over 73.

Saaniya would have hoped for a better day as her lone birdie of the day came on the 4th hole. Her error prone round included bogeys on the 8th, 9th, 12th, 14th and 18th holes, and also a double on the 7th. 

She ended the day in fourth position with a score of six-over 76 and a total of 145 after 36 holes. 

Saaniya was followed by New Delhi's Mehar Atwal in fifth position with a total score of 147 after the second round.