April 15, 2017: Aditi Ashok is battling hard in the Lotte Championship on the LPGA Tour. The Indian is playing well within her means, producing scores of 71-71-73 so far this week. Aditi is currently lying T62 at 1-under 215. Su-Yeon Jang is at the top of the leaderboard after a brilliant 65 helped her move up to 17-under 199. Cristie Kerr and Alena Sharp are tied in second, three strokes behind the Korean.
Aditi made 10 of 14 fairways for the second consecutive day as she continued to exert plenty of discipline over herself. The young Indian is driving an average of 230 yards this week in the Hawaiian golf resort.
Aditi made five birdies on Friday, but her score was offset by bogeys at three, eight, nine and ten. The 19 year old girl took 37 strokes to make the turn, aided by two birdies at the second and seventh holes.
After a hattrick of bogeys at the turn (8, 9 & 10), Aditi made three birdies in four holes. Just when it seemed like another under par score was on the card, a double bogey at the par-3 16th sent her back over par.
She made par at the final two holes to end the third round with a 73. It was her first over par score this week. Aditi has been putting solid this week, needed 88 putts over the 54 holes. But it is the greens in regulation that is hurting the young Indian.
Aditi has managed just 37 off 54 greens this week, leaving her the constant challenge of getting up and down without any margin for error. On the uber competitive LPGA circuit that can hurt a young girl trying to focus hard on the task at hand.
A top 40 finish is still likely for Aditi if she can improve her numbers and produce a low round on Saturday. Only three strokes separate her from the zone, so the stage is set for some resilient golf in the final round.
