Aditi in lead in Usha Delhi Ladies golf

Noida, April 17 (IANS) Teenaged Aditi Ashok played a steady round to card an even par 72 on the opening day of the Delhi Ladies and junior girls golf Championships to open up a three-shot lead at the end of the first round here Tuesday.

Aditi, who is in Category B is the overall leader, while Gurbani Singh is the leader with 75 in Category A.

Aditi, a part of the Indian ladies squad, and winner of numerous international titles besides finishing on the top in one of the women's pro events last season, was one over for the front nine and then played consistently for one birdie and eight pars on the back nine for a total of 72.

Bangalore golfer Aditi bogeyed the fourth and seventh, but in between had a birdie on the par-4 sixth. After the bogey on seventh, Aditi had one birdie on 10th and rest were pars. Gurbani had a roller coaster start with three birdies and two bogeys in first five holes and then she bogeyed the seventh and eighth to turn in one-over. On the back nine she bogeyed twice to finish at 75.

Also at 75 was Anisha Padukone, who earlier in the season won the Bangladesh Ladies amateur title, was two over for front nine and one over for the return journey. She had a double bogey start and overall had two birdie and three other bogeys.

In category A, Gurbani (75) was followed by Amrita Sarna (77) while in Category B, Aditi (72) was followed by Ankita Kedalya (78) and Vidushi Sinha (78). In Category C, the lead was shared by three players, Akshita Singh, Arushi Pandey and Tanirika Singh, all carding 88 on the opening day.

In category D, Anika Varma (87) was leading with Tanishka Kumar second with a round of 89.

The Delhi Ladies and junior girls golf championships is the first event for the ladies in the 2012 season. Usha International will be sponsoring the junior and ladies events on the Indian Golf Union's circuit.