December 03, 2016:This is the home stretch and Aditi Ashok knows it. The young girl from Bengaluru has been a busy bee; she is playing her ninth event in ten weeks. After a poised effort in the fourth and penultimate round of the final stage of Q School, Aditi Ashok can nearly smell the reward, a full membership of the LPGA Tour.
The 18 year old, ranked just outside the top 100 on the Ladies European Tour, shot an attacking 71, after a round in which she made a valiant effort to sail up the order. A difficult back nine compromised her chances but she still did enough to climb from T27 to T21 by the end of the day.
Aditi Ashok began with a confident effort on the front nine of the Hills Course. At the start of the day, Aditi was seven spots away from assuring herself a full membership of the LPGA Tour next season.
A disciplined two under 34 through the front nine underlined the young girl’s belief and abilities as she sought round off a stellar season with a couple of good rounds over the weekend.
Aditi Ashok suffered her first bogey of the round at the 11th to fall back to 3-under with seven to play in the fourth round. A second bogey came at the 15th hole, but that was sandwiched between two fine birdies at 14 & 16 to bump her back inside the top 20.
But a third bogey of the round dropped Aditi just outside the safety zone, as she fell back to three under. Aditi Ashok made par on the final hole to sign off with a solid 71 to end the day in T21.
The young Indian is in a comfortable place, needing just a top 45 finish to ensure her status on the LPGA Tour. But the ambitious Indian will look to ride higher and finish inside the top twenty to gain a full card to the 2017 season.
With Tiger Woods also playing well in the Hero World Challenge, we seem set for a sensational Sunday of golf in America.
Jay Marie Green of the USA is in the lead at -14, up from Olafia Kristinsdottir, who is lying one back. Both women were on the back nine, with five left to play at the time of this report.
The top 20 women at the end of Sunday’s final round receive a full membership for the LPGA Tour 2017 season. The women lying 21 – 45th will receive a partial membership to the Tour.
