December 19, 2015: Aditi Ashok continued her astounding golf journey with a spectacular run at the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifier. The 17 year old girl from Bengaluru added a 69 to her first round 68 to place herself firmly inside the top ten of the 90 hole marathon.
The top 60 at the end of 72 holes will shootout next week, with the top 30 sealing a spot on the LET in 2016. German Karolin Lampert was leading the field by two, with the young Indian trailing her five shots. Lampert shot 65 in the second round to end the day at 12-under 132.
The Final Qualifier is played alternatively at the Samanah Country Club and the Amelkis courses. Aditi made five birdies and a lone bogey on Friday, when she played the course at the SCC.
Her second round was not nearly as fluent but she displayed great heart and staying power to offset bogeys at the 2nd, 7th and 16th holes with six birdies to solidify her position on the leaderboard.
The only other Indian in the field, Neha Tripathi made 76 and 73 in the first two rounds to be lying T89. She is facing an uphill task to try and recover significantly to survive the 72 hole cut.
Daisy Nielsen and Justine Dreher are lying joint second at 10-under 134 after both made 68 and 66 in the two rounds so far.
Caroline Rominger is in fourth with her scores of 67 and 68 helping her to 9-under 135.
There are seven other women lying in fifth alongside Aditi. One of them is a familiar Kiran Matharu, who has been a regular on the WGAI Hero Pro Golf Tour for Women.
Playing in English colours, Kiran had made a blemish free 68 in the first round. She made a forceful statement by making a hattrick of birdies from the 4th hole of the second round.
But the course at Amelkis reined her back when she conceded shots at the 7th, 8th and 9th holes. After steadying her boat with three straight pars, Kiran made birdies at the 13th and 14th before cushioning her scroe with another birdie at the final hole.
Aditi, the youngest ever winner on the WGAI Tour is expecting to turn professional next season if she manages to stay within the top 30 at the end of the fifth round.
