Hyderabad,  Gaurika Bishnoi gave the 2022 season of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour a flying start with a career-best 6-under 66 at the Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club that placed the 23-year-old Gurugram golfer on top of the leaderboard.

Gaurika was five clear of the second placed trio, which included two amateurs, Sneha Singh and Jasmine Shekar along with pro Jyotsana Singh who all carded 1-under 71.

Ridhima Dilawari, who had four birdies in a span of five holes, dropped three bogeys on the back nine as she ended with an even par 72.

Gaurika, who was hit by Covid in January, opened with a string of five pars as she was in the first group to tee off. She then birdied three times in the last four holes of the front nine to make the turn at 3-under. She added four more birdies on the back nine on 11th, 13th, 14th and 17th and her sole blemish came on the Par-4 12th.

Pleased with her round, she said, "It was a good round today. My career best on WGAI and a personal best also. It definitely feels great to start the new year by breaking a personal record. I have been working hard and I'm glad to see that things are falling into place. Just need to stay committed to my process."

She added, "In the off season I was focusing on some things that hadn't worked well for me in the LET Q-school. Then earlier in January I was also down with Covid. But I have worked hard on my game and am glad it is paying off."

On the round, she went on, "The game, all in all, was in a good shape and a combination of good putts, good drives and good wedge play."

Amateur Sneha, who has tasted success on the Hero WPG Tour earlier, had three birdies on the front nine and two bogeys on the back nine. Another amateur Jasmine, starting on 10th, was 3-over through 11 holes. She then struck a purple patch with 4 birdies in six holes between the third and eighth.

Jyotsana, also starting on 10th, had a bogey on 11th but then holed three birdies between 12th and 15th. On the second nine she birdied first but bogeyed second and third and parred the rest.

Jahanvi Bakshi and Anisha Agarwalla shot 73 each and were Tied-6th while Hitaashee Bakshi, Shweta Mansingh and Nayanika Sanga were Tied-8th with 74 each.