Tvesa Malik finished strongly on her second nine to card 2-under 71 at the Par-73 ISPS HANDA World Invitational on the Ladies European Tour. Tvesa, who started from the 10th and was even par for the first nine, was 2-under with three birdies and one bogey on the back nine for a total of 73 at the challenging Galgorm Castle Golf Club course.

Diksha Dagar, who just got the news of an Olympic spot, did not have a great start as she played 5-over 77 at the Massereene course, the second course which is being used this week.

The women's tournament is running concurrent to the men's in the innovative tri-sanctioned event with players from the European Tour (men), Ladies PGA and Ladies European Tour. The tournament is being played on two courses, the Galgorm and Massereene courses with different pars for men and women.

The leader among women is Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh who fired a bogey-free round of 66 to be in a tie at the top of the leaderboard after the first day. Sharing the lead with her are American Jennifer Kupcho and South Korean Chella Choi. One stroke behind in fourth place is American Emma Talley (67).

Among men, India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu (68) had a good start on the back nine of the Massereene course, which for men was played at Par-70. He was 4-under for back nine and 2-over for front nine. At 2-under he was T-23 among men. Shubhankar Sharma at even par 70 was T-56 and Gaganjeet Bhullar (72) was T-96.

England’s Jordan Smith leads by two strokes among men, after posting a score of eight-under-par 62 at Par-70 on the Massereene course on the first day. Smith enjoyed a stunning back nine as seven birdies. He is two clear of Matthias Schmid from Germany.

Japan's Masahiro Kawamura was a shot further back on five under par after an opening 65, while Nacho Elvira, winner of last week's Cazoo Open, was one of six players in a share of fifth spot.

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