Late spur puts Nicollet in joint lead

Her long-hitting game suits the wide and open Jaypee Greens course but almost till the end of the first round on Tuesday,Sharmila Nicollet was having an average outing in the 12th leg of the Womens Pro Golf Tour her two birdies getting overlooked by the three dropped shots.

Her long-hitting game suits the wide and open Jaypee Greens course but almost till the end of the first round on Tuesday,Sharmila Nicollet was having an average outing in the 12th leg of the Womens Pro Golf Tour her two birdies getting overlooked by the three dropped shots. However,something similar to her last-hole wonder act at the European Tour Q-school earlier this year,came into play again at the domestic tour event in Greater Noida as she hit three back-to-back birdies to get into a share of the lead with Nalini Singh Siwach. The two ended up with scores of 2-under 70 but Siwach did not have as good luck as the 20-year-old KGA golfer Nicollet.

But just as Nicollet was rallying to turnaround her days,a slip up by Siwach cost her the sole lead. Going steady with a neat scorecard with four birdies on the 4th ,6th ,13th and 15th holes against just one bogey on the back nine that came at the 10th hole,Siwach lost her grip right at the end. A dropped shot on the last hole of the day meant that the 22-year-old Delhi golfer had to share the lead with Nicollet,who birdied the same hole to be equal to her.

But the two of them do not have a comfortable cushion when they go into the second round on Wednesday as they have the 11th legs winner Smriti Mehra closely behind them. The veteran,who had a bad start with an opening hole double bogey is just one shot behind them at 71. After another bogey on the 4th ,Mehra steadied up,hitting two consecutive birdies on the 5th and the 6th and playing a blemish-free back-nine with another birdie on the 17th.

These were the only three under-par scores of the day. Japans Mika Ikemura,who was a part of the Indian Open line-up but is making her debut on the Indian domestic tour event shot a 73 with three birdies and four bogeys and was placed fourth,one shot ahead of Meghna Bal (74) who was let down by a double bogey on the second last hole. Lying sixth at 76 was Neha Tripathi.

But the climb of the day belonged to Sharmila,who has been tweaking her swing and putting to suit the European courses. Despite a slow start with one birdie on the par-5 third hole followed by bogeys on the fourth and seventh that made her turn in at one-over,she sank her putts when it mattered most. On the back nine she birdied the 11th to come to even par but again dropped a shot on par-5 13th. Then she had a grandstand finish with three birdies in a row from 16th to 18th for a sub-par round and the maximum birdies by any player in the opening round.

Shraddhanjali Singh (77) and Seiko Miyata,the 41-year-old Japanese player who is also playing on the domestic Indian circuit for the first time,ended with 78 were seventh and eighth respectively.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Late spur puts Nicollet in joint lead

Her long-hitting game suits the wide and open Jaypee Greens course but almost till the end of the first round on Tuesday,Sharmila Nicollet was having an average outing in the 12th leg of the Womens Pro Golf Tour  her two birdies getting overlooked by the three dropped shots.

Her long-hitting game suits the wide and open Jaypee Greens course but almost till the end of the first round on Tuesday,Sharmila Nicollet was having an average outing in the 12th leg of the Womens Pro Golf Tour her two birdies getting overlooked by the three dropped shots.