Pune, Feb 17 (IANS) Tvesa Malik produced three birdies in the closing four holes while Ridhima Dilawari had five birdies on her front nine as both went neck-and-neck in Round One of Leg-4 of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2026 at the Poona Club Golf Course. Both carded 3-under 68 each to share the lead after Day one.

The third player in the marquee group, Vani Kapoor (69), was one shot behind in sole third, while amateur Anuradha Chaudhary (70) was the only other player to shoot an under-par round and was fourth.

Tvesa, who won a play-off last week in Pune, had one bogey and one birdie on the front nine, while Ridhima ran away with five birdies. Riddhima added a sixth birdie and went 6-under, but dropped a shot on the 11th, birdied the 14th, her seventh birdie of the day, before dropping a double bogey on the 15th and a closing bogey for a 68.

Tvesa birdied the 12th and bogeyed the 13th and was even par with four holes to go. She birdied the 15th, parred the 16th and closed birdie-birdie to share the lead.

Amateur Lavanya Gupta carded 1-over 72 and was fifth, while five players, Sneha Singh, Durga Nittur, Jasmine Shekar, Anivtha Narender and Vidhatri Urs were all tied sixth at 2-over 73 each.

Among other top stars, Amandeep Drall (74) was T-11 and Neha Tripathi (75) was T-14.

The field this week has a record 49 players vying for a prize purse of Rs. 17 lakhs. Hero MotoCorp’s support of the Tour has taken it to new levels.

Last week, Tvesa Malik ended a long winless run going back to more than two years as she emerged triumphant in a play-off against Anvitha Narender in the third leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Oxford Golf Resort. Her last win came in September 2023 at DLF Gurugram. Amateur Aradhana Manikandan (72) and seasoned Vani Kapoor (72) were tied for fourth place. They were the only players to shoot even par on the final day, and there were no under-par scores.

–IANS

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