Vani Kapoor made full use of her residence benefit and years of expertise to high the leaderboard with a powerful five-under 67 after the primary spherical of the Hero Ladies’s Indian Open on Thursday.
The 31-year-old, who practises on the DLF Golf and Nation Membership when not competing, performed steadily with hardly a mistaken stroke, raking up birdies, and dropping only a shot on the second gap to steer a discipline that struggled on softer greens and slower fairways.
Vani, who leads the WGAI Order of Benefit with 4 titles this yr, was adopted a stroke behind by 16-year-old beginner Zara Anand and Singapore’s Shannon Tan. Tan, second on the LET Order of Benefit and runner-up final yr, took step one to ascending to the highest with a productive entrance 9.
With most golfers struggling to regulate the ball and maintain it in play, solely 16 of the 109 in motion managed to make par. Amongst those that had a troublesome outing on the course was defending champion Liz Younger, who completed with a 77, with double bogeys on the tenth and 2nd holes and dropped photographs on 4 extra.
Former champion Chamille Chevalier of France was an additional shot behind, whereas Mimi Rhodes, hoping to cement her high place on the tour, shot four-over to complete the day tied 56th.
Main scores
67: Vani Kapoor; 68: Zara Anand, Shannon Tan (Sgp), Verena Gimmy (Ger); 69: Alice Hewson (Eng); 70: Durga Nittur, Romy Meekers (Ned), Hitaashee Bakshi, Sara Kouskova (Cze), Alessia Nobilio (Ita); 71: Chiara Tamburlini (Sui), Sarah Schober (Aut), Kelsey Bennett (Aus), Lisa Pettersson (Swe), Anna Zanusso (Ita), Agathe Sauzon (Fra).; 72: Trichat Cheenglab (Tha), Luna Sobron Galmes (Esp), Maddison Hinson-Tolchard (Aus), Klara Davidson Spilkova (Cze), Eleanor Givens (Eng), Pranavi Urs, Meghan MacLaren (Eng).
Printed on Oct 09, 2025