Aditi emerges champion

Young amateur cards eight-under in final round

Talented amateur Aditi Ashok unleashed another superb performance to annex the Hero-KGA Women’s Pro Golf Championship from out of nowhere here on Friday.

Trailing by five shots overnight, the 17-year-old Bengalurean carded an eye-popping eight-under 64 to total 214 and secure her second triumph on the pro tour at the Karnataka Golf Association.

The hard-working teenager also set a slew of records on a muggy day. She created a new course record for the ladies at the KGA and as per data made available by WGAI, she also posted the lowest score ever by an Indian on the domestic pro tour.

“I knew I had to play extremely well to stand a chance and I’m really excited to have produced such a performance,” said Aditi, who caddied for herself. “I was aiming for 5-under but 8-under is something I didn’t expect. More than the record, I’m happy to have played so well at the KGA which is considered one of the toughest courses in the country.”

Overnight leaders Vani Kapoor and Sharmila Nicollet, seemingly oblivious to Aditi’s heroics in the group ahead, finished second and third respectively although Vani took home the winners’ cheque.
Vani carded one-under 71 to sign off two shots behind Aditi while Sharmila managed a 73 to total 218.

Aditi kick-started her round with a 10-foot birdie on the second before sinking an easy three-footer on the fourth. She turned in with a 12-foot birdie on the ninth and then picked up shots on the 12th, 14th and 15th to join Vani at the top.

Striking the ball beautifully and putting like a dream throughout the day, she turned the heat on Vani when she sunk a 10-foot birdie on the closing 18th to go one shot ahead. Seemingly unaware of what was happening in front of her, Vani found the greenside bunker on the 18th that quashed all her hopes of pushing the contest into a play-off.

Leading scores (after 54 holes, ‘A’ denotes amateur): 214: Aditi Ashok (‘A’, 74, 76, 64); 216: Vani Kapoor (73, 72, 71); 218: Sharmila Nicollet (77, 68, 73); 220: Amandeep Drall (74, 75, 71); 221: Ankita Tiwana (76, 74, 71); 223: Neha Tripathi (76, 74, 73).