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Flawless Phatlum pulls ahead

Sports Reporter

GURGAON: Defending champion Pornanong Phatlum exhibited her excellent putting skills while producing a flawless round of four-under 68 and grabbed a two-stroke lead after the first round of the $120,000 DLF women’s Indian Open here on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old Thai girl was at home at the DLF Golf and Country Club as she started her campaign with a bang, by recording a birdie on the first hole.

Three more birdies on the sixth, eighth and 11th made it her day and she comfortably managed to par the rest.

Greens were harder

“The pin positions were difficult. The greens were harder than last year. But, my hitting and putting were good enough,” Phatlum said.

In hot pursuit of Phatlum was Hae Jung Kim, who, with a score of two-under 70, was in the second spot.

Except for dropping a shot on the 12th hole, the Korean was near perfect as she birdied the sixth, 10th and 15th.

However, the most eventful performance of the day came from Chinese Wei Li.

Neck and neck

At one point, Li — who teed off on the back nine — was running neck and neck with Phatlum. After birdies on the 11th, 15th and 18th — she had a bogey on the 12th — Li gained a shot each on the first and third to tie the scores with her Thai rival.

But, disaster struck and Li dropped a shot on the fourth hole and double-bogeyed the next to lose ground.

Li also dropped a shot on the eighth before regaining composure for a birdie on the ninth to end the day on a positive note by sharing the third spot with four others.

Saanya begins well

Playing in her second tournament after a lay-off, Saanya Sharma was the best among the Indians with an even par score for the tied-seventh slot with four others.

A birdie each on the ninth and 18th boosted her while bogeys on the second and 13th pulled her down.

“Driving was the best part of my game today,” Saanya said about her first round showing.

However, disappointment was in store for the home fans as ace Indian golfer Smriti Mehra had a forgettable round of four-over 76.

After a lone birdie on the second, the 36-year-old had a hat-trick of bogeys and a double-bogey on the seventh.

Even though the bad patch seriously hampered her title aspirations, the veteran pro brought up 10 consecutive par scores to hang in there at the tied-25th spot.

“I could not read the greens properly and that let me down initially,” said Smriti.

The scores:

Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 68; Hae Jung Kim (Kor) 70; Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha), Nicole Montgomery (Aus), Wei Li (Chn) and Bo Mi Park (Kor) 71.

Tandi Cuningham (RSA), Bing Lim (Mas), Breanne Loucks (Gbr), Saanya Sharma (Ind) and Veronica Zorzi (Ita) 72.

Other Indians:

Tanya Wadhwa 75; Smriti Mehra and Nalini Singh Siwach 76; Nikki Ponappa and Gauri Monga 77; Laverry Kumar and Shweta Galande 78.

Vani Kapoor 79; Shalini Malik 80; Vandana Agarwal 81; Neha Majithia 82 and Shreya Ghei 83.

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