23 year old Aditi Ashok of India qualified for the $4,500,000 total prize purse Women’s British Open Golf tournament which will be played from 19th August at Carnoustie Links in Scotland.
On the par 70 course at Panmure Golf Club, Aditi carded a superb two-under 68, to grab the second place and assure herself one of the 15 spots on offer for the Major.
In 2016 playing on the Ladies European Tour Aditi was named the Rookie of the Year and over the last 5 years her form has been on an upswing. This is the 19th Major that Aditi will be playing in, the most by any Indian golfer.
Just to put things in perspective, there are 4 Major tournaments in the Men’s Circuit and 5 in the Women’s Circuit. So to clock up this number within 6 years speaks of her consistency.
The Bengaluru born golfer was the youngest player among all participants at Rio 2016.
In her campaign at Tokyo 2020, on the Par 71 course, Aditi dropped just five shots over the four days carding rounds of 67, 66, 68 and 68. Her short game was consistent throughout, and as a player ranked 200, she ran the World Number 1 Jessica Korda and Rio 2016 Olympics Silver medalist Lydia Ko close, before finishing 4th, just outside medal contention.
Though it was not a medal winning effort at Tokyo 2020, what it did was that it got the whole country to wake up early on a Saturday morning and learn about the game as she showed great resolve to go toe to toe with the best in the world.
The writer is a Sports Broadcaster who has worked on assignments for leading sports networks in India & Abroad