Bengaluru, July 16 (IANS): Playing an inspired round of golf on her home course, Sharmila Nicollet fired a superb 4 under 68 to climb to the top of the leaderboard and share the lead with Vani Kapoor at the end of Day 2 at the KGA here on Thursday.
Both ended with an identical score of 145 to finish ahead of Panchkula's Amandeep Drall, third with 149 at the Rs.7 lakh event which will culminate on Friday.
Sharmila started the day in tied eighth and quickly turned things around with a bogey-free round. She carded birdies on the second, sixth, 10th and 11th to move into joint lead and make a strong bid for her first title of the year.
Overnight leader Vani had an inconsistent start and played a birdie-less front nine with bogeys on the third, eighth and ninth holes. The Order of Merit leader, however, recovered soon and a bogey-free back nine helped her stay in the hunt for her fifth title of the year. Vani carded birdies on the 10th, 12th and 15th to finish with an even par score.
Rookie Amandeep Drall played a birdie-less front nine with two bogeys on the second and eighth along with a double bogey on the seventh. However, she played a blemish-free back nine, carding a lone birdie on the 10th to end with 3 over 75.
Kolkata's Neha Tripathi, Delhi's Ankita Tiwana and amateur Aditi Ashok are tied fourth with identical scores of 150. Neha played with intent, carding five birdies on the first, 11th, 13th, 16th and 17th, the most by any golfer on the day. However, two bogeys on the fifth and eighth, a double on the 18th along with a triple on the ninth meant that she had to be content with 2 over 74.
Ankita had an indifferent round and dropped shots on the first, second, seventh and 18th while carding birdies on the 11th and 12th to return with 2 over 74.
Aditi, who was tied second at the end of Day 1, could not sustain her momentum. She carded a lone birdie on the 14th along with three bogeys on third, sixth and 18th with a double bogey on the 17th to finish with 4 over 76.
Delhi's Gauri Monga, Mehar Atwal and Kolkata's Smriti Mehra with a total score of 152 are tied seventh. Amateur Trisha Sunil is 10th with 153.