Ahmedabad, Jan 7 (IANS): Women golfers Vani Kapoor and Pallavi Jain carded an identical score of four-over 76 to take lead after the opening round of the first leg of Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour here Wednesday.

Vani and Pallavi were closely followed by the Kolkata duo of Neha Tripathi and Smriti Mehra. While Neha scored five-over 77, seasoned Smriti made 78 at the Kensville Golf Club here.

Delhi's Vani had an indifferent start and carded a double bogey on the second hole. She added to her woes with two more bogies on the third and fifth. Her lone birdie on the eighth came to her only rescue in the front nine.

However, the Order of Merit 2014 winner controlled her game in the back nine and showed nerves of a seasoned professional to grab the lead for the day carding just one more bogey on the 13th hole.

Contrary to Vani, Jaipur golfer Pallavi took a lot of risks and carded four birdies on the day on the first, second, ninth and 17th holes, maximum by any golfer. However, she also carded eight bogeys on the fourth, seventh, eighth, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th.

Pune’s Shweta Galande finished fifth with a score of seven-over 79, one stroke ahead of Delhi’s Ankita Tiwana. Kapurthala's Gursimar Badwal is placed seventh, followed by Chandigarh golfers Saaniya Sharma, Amandeep Drall and Preetinder Kaur.