Ahmedabad, Feb 5 (IANS): Golfer Tvesa Malik moved into a familiar pole position at the end of the opening day of the third leg of the Hero womens Pro Tour at the Kensville golf and country club here on Wednesday.

Playing at the Par-72 layout, Tvesa played steady golf with three birdies and three bogeys for an even Par 72 in the Rs 8 lakh event.

Her effort gave her a handy three shot lead ahead of Gaurika Bishnoi, who carded 75 after two bogeys in the last three holes.

Amandeep Drall, runner-up in the second leg in Pune, shot 77 on a day when she had just one birdie against six bogeys, four of them on the back nine. She shared the third place with Siddhi Kapoor.

Things did not pan out well for Gursimar Badwal, who won the second leg, as she shot six-over 78, the same as the winner of the first leg, Neha Tripathi. They were both tied-fifth alongside Smriti Mehra, Afshan Fatima and Jyotsana Singh.

On a course which was not yielding good scores, Tvesa, winner of the Hero Order of Merit last season, played smartly with a series of four pars before she got her first birdie on the Par-3 fifth, only to give back the gains on the Par-3 eighth.

On the back nine, she bogeyed 13th, but restored parity on the Par-5 14th. She moved into red figures on the Par-5 17th, but again surrendered the advantage on the last hole.

Gaurika had her sole birdie on second, but none thereafter. She dropped shots on fourth, seventh, 16th and 18th.

Siddhi looked fine for an even par round through 15 holes, but bogeyed 16th and 17th and then triple bogeyed the 18th to fall back sharply to 77.

Lavanya Tatiwala (88) and Hita Prakash (93) missed the cut.

In the second round, Mehar Atwal and Anisha Padukone will go out together in the first two-ball, followed by the second two-ball of Anousha Tripathi and Sonam Chugh.

The third group has Dolma Rawat, Komal Chaudhary and Ayesha Kapur, who will be followed by Sifat Alag, Ishvari Prasanna and Khushi Khanijau in the fourth.

The fifth group comprises Neha, Gursimar and Smriti Mehra, while the penultimate group has Jyotsana, Afshan and Siddhi. The lead group of Amandeep, Gaurika and Tvesa will tee off last.