Neha, who won the 10th and 12th Legs of the Tour, is also looking at the top spot on the Hero WPGT Order of Merit, where she lies third behind Sneha Singh and Seher Atwal who occupy the top two spots.
Sneha and Seher are in the big group tied at ninth and seven shots behind the leader.
Neha birdied second, 14th and 18th and had bogeys on sixth and back-to-back dropped shots on 11th and the 12th.
Trailing Neha by two shots is Tvesa Malik, who had a terrible four-hole stretch on the back nine where she dropped three shots in four holes. Overall, Tvesa had two birdies against four bogeys in her 74.
Amateurs have been doing well this season and the latest in that list is Anaahat Bindra, whose 75 placed her tied third with Jyotsana Singh. Anaahat had three bogeys in a row from eighth to tenth among her five bogeys, but back-to-back birdies late in the day on 16th and 17th holes saved the day for her.
Anisha Agarwalla (76) was sole fifth, while Kriti Chowhan and Ridhima Dilawari carded 77 and were tied sixth on a day when scoring was not easy.
Jasmine Shekar, who secured a place into the Final Stage of LET Q-School recently was eighth, while six players Khushi Khanijau, Rhea Jha, Shweta Mansingh, Seher Atwal, Ananya Datar and Sneha were tied for the ninth place.
–IANS
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