Jasmine Shekar was quickest out of the blocks on the opening day of the 2026 Hero WPGT season at the Bombay Presidency on Tuesday. Image courtesy WGAI.
By Rahul Banerji
Jasmine Shekar made a solid start to the 2026 Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour with the first round lead in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Two late birdies at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club.helped Jasmine card a 3 under par 67 for the sole lead on the opening day of the 2026 season.
The Bangalore golfer, who won once in 2025, was a shot clear of Lavanya Jadon (68), also a winner last season at teh Rs 17 lakh event.
Lavanya’s 2 under 68 and Seher Atwal’s 70 were the only other par scores or better on the par-70 layout.
Sneha Singh and Amandeep Drall, multiple winners in 2025, were in a five-way tie for fourth place on 2 over 72 along with Ridhima Dilawari, Jahanvi Bakshi and Khushi Khanijau.
Jasmine played each of the 15 events in 2025 and finished third in the Hero Order of Merit behind Vani Kapoor, who skipped this week, and Amandeep Drall.
Birdies on holes three and eight saw her turn in 2 under 35 and she added further gains on 16 and 17, while dropping a lone shot of the day on the par-3 13th hole.
Lone blip
Lavanya opened with a bogey and made no further errors and picked up strokes on holes two, six and 12.
Seher had four birdies and four bogeys in her 70, evenly split between ether side of the BPGC course.
Sneha was 3 over through 17 before her only birdie on 18, while Jahanvi had three birdies in the last six holes after three bogeys and a double earlier on.
Amandeep birdied twice while dropping four shots and Ridhima had one birdie against three bogeys.
Heena Kang, who turned pro last season and won once in four starts, opened the season with a 75 and was tied for 16th.
Four players, including the hugely talented US-bound amateur Zara Anand, shot 3 over 73s for T9. The other three were Shweta Mansingh, Ananya Garg and Shagun Narain.
Debutant pro Saanvi Somu had a tough start with a 6 over 76 while Vidhatri Urs (77) had three straight double bogeys on the back nine.
Growing fields
The new season opened with as many as 10 rookies joining the pro ranks as the women continue to propel Indian golf to new levels.
The new pros came through a qualifier at Jaypee Wishtown, the IGU Ladies Order of Merit and world amateur rankings, making for a record 62 registered professionals this year.
Of the total prize fund of Rs 2.5 crore for the financial year, Rs. 1.47 crore was distributed between April and December 2025.
The balance will be spread over the next six events till March and the remaining nine events for 2026 will be held thereafter.
Scores and round 2 tee times
8 am: Jia Kochhar 85, Anaggha Venkatesh 85
8:10 am: Mayara Sharma 83, Esther Lobo 82, Geetika Ahuja 82
8:20 am: Yashita Raghav 81, Rhea Jha 81, Rhea Purvi 80
8:30 am: Gourabi Bhowmick 80, Eti Chaudhary 80, Oviya Reddi 80
8:40 am: Thea Ajoomal (A) 79, Agrima Manral 79, Riya Jadon 79
8:55 am: Karishma Govind 78, Ravjot K. Dosanjh 78, Ketaki Sood 78
9:05 am: Shinjini Mukherjee 77, Vidhatri Urs 77, Saanvi Somu 76
9:15 am: Disha Kavery 75, Heena Kang 75, Kashika Misra (A) 75
9:25 am: Aradhana Manikandan (A) 74, Ananya Datar 74, Durga Nittur 74
9:40 am: Shagun Narain 73, Zara Anand (A) 73, Ananya Garg 73
9:50 am: Shweta Mansingh 73, Jahanvi Bakshi 72, Sneha Singh 72
10 am: Ridhima Dilawari 72, Amandeep Drall 72, Khushi Khanijau 72
10:10 am: Seher Atwal 70, Lavanya Jadon 68, Jasmine Shekar 67
Also read: A double whammy by India’s women golfers Diksha, Pranavi
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