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Amateur Seher Atwal shares lead with Tvesa, Neha in 10th leg of Hero WPG Tour

Hosur, Tamil Nadu, July 25: Seher Atwal, one of India’s most promising amateurs back home on a break from Rollins College in the United States, made good use of the opportunity and took a share of the lead in the first round of the 10th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at Clover Greens in Hosur. Seher had a steady round with a birdie-birdie start and with three birdies against one bogey, she finished with 2-under 70.

Seher, whose elder sister Mehar is already a professional, shared the lead with seasoned Tvesa Malik and Neha Tripathi, who hold the top two spots on the Hero WPGT Order of Merit. On a day when there were four sub-par scores, Amandeep Drall also shot 1-under 71. Amandeep with 2 birdies and 2 bogeys in the first half was level till the 10th hole. She birdied the 11th and parred the rest.

Vani Kapoor, who has been playing outside India, clearly needed time to adjust to the greens at home, as she carded 1-over 73 and is lying Tied-5th with Gaurika Bishnoi. Vani had just one birdie against two bogeys, while Gaurika had two birdies and three bogeys.

Seher has been showing a lot of promise in the USA. She was recently named to the First Team All-America by the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) and she also earned an Honorable Mention All-America nod as a freshman in 2017. Seher had two wins in the season in college events in the US and led the team with the best adjusted scoring average.

On Wednesday, Seher was very solid and dropped just one shot on the Par-4 eighth hole.

Neha, who has one win this season, has been in good form but has been unable to string three good rounds together for more wins. She had no less than six birdies, but started and finished the day with a bogey and in between had a double bogey on the Par-5 seventh hole.

Tvesa, who has been having a great season with one win, three second place and three third place finishes, was lying Tied-1st alongside Neha and Seher. Tvesa was 1-over through 10 holes, but three birdies against no bogeys in the last eight holes saw her end in red numbers at 2-under 70.

Amateur Shweta Mansingh and Suchitra Ramesh were tied seventh with scores of 74 each, while Millie Saroha and Sonam Chugh were Tied-9th at 75. Four players, Khushi Khanijau, Trisha Sunil, Siddhi Kapoor and Afshan Fatima were tied 11th with cards of 76.

Gursimar Badwal, the only player with multiple wins this season, was way down in 15th place with a birdie-less round of 77 with five bogeys.

Tavleen Batra and Ayesha Kapur will start the proceedings on Thursday, while amateur Rhea Saravanan and Anisha Padukone will play in the second two-ball. Gursimar Badwal, Afshan Fatima and Siddhi Kapoor are next in the third group, while Trisha Sunil, Khushi Khanijau and Sonam Chugh will tee off in the fourth.

Millie Saroha, Suchitra Ramesh and amateur Shweta Mansingh are together in the fifth group, while the penultimate group comprises Vani Kapoor, Gaurika Bishnoi and Amandeep Drall. Co-leaders Tvesa Malik, Neha Tripathi and amateur Seher Atwal will go out last in the final threesome.