Chandigarh, Nov. 12 -- The opening round of the 32nd Punjab Open Ladies' Championship witnessed a closely contested battle, with four golfers sharing the lead in the Gold Division after carding identical gross scores of 81 at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Wednesday.

Bhavya Mann, Amreen Sandhu, Aarushi Sharma and Ashi Jain topped the gross leaderboard, setting up an intriguing contest for the remaining two rounds. Jain, meanwhile, took the outright lead in the Nett category with an impressive score of 71, one under par. Five players were tied for second place with a Nett score of 75.

In the Silver Division, Neelam Kumar set the pace with a gross 92, holding a slender one-shot lead over Saguna Jain (93).

Neelam Garg dominated the Bronze Di...