April 28, 2018: Aditi Ashok earned her best finish on the LPGA with a T7 in the Mediheal Championship. She shot a 69, laced with six birdies to better her T8 at the Marathon Classic in July last year.
Aditi suffered a bogey on the third hole to make a stumbling start to her final round. But she more than regrouped, making three birdies in five holes to consolidate her presence inside the top ten.
Aditi also suffered a bogey at the 10th and a third at the 17th but three birdies on the finishing stretch helped end the week at 7-under 281.
The result in Daly City will help Aditi climb inside the top 50 of the Race to CME Globe.
Sunday, Lydia Ko won the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship for her third victory at Lake Merced Golf Club. Surrounded by positive memories of her back-to-back victories in Daly City in 2014 and 2015, Ko ended a winless drought that dated back to the 2016 Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning and O-I.
It was a roller coaster Sunday, that saw the lead change four times, with three different players taking turns at the top. It took one extra hole for Ko to pull out the win, finishing tied after 72-holes with Minjee Lee at 12-under par.
Lee holed out for birdie from the bunker at the 71st hole and back that up with a birdie at the 72nd hole to put the pressure on Ko, who was waiting in the fairway. Ko nearly holed her chip for the win, which skirted just inches past the hole. The pair returned to the 18th tee where Ko was once again inches away from holing her approach for an albatross. She was left with a 3-footer for eagle and the win.
“It’s crazy, because I was 3-over for the day at one stage today and I said ‘Hey, you just got to focus and you never know what’s going to happen,’” Ko said after her win. “I was able to put my game together on the back nine and when that putt dropped, oh my gosh.”
The former Rolex Rankings world No. 1 took a one-stroke lead into the final round ahead of Jessica Korda. Sunday, the pair played together, and both stumbled early. Ko made three bogeys in her first six holes to drop as many as two-back of the lead. But even as her playing partner pulled ahead, Ko cheered her on. The pair fist bumped at the par 4, 7th hole after pouring in long putts for birdie.
But it was Ko who kept the celebration rolling.
For the second straight day she holed out on the back nine for birdie and threw her hands up in joy. At the par 5, 15th hole she again made birdie and walked off the green smiling, leaping and waving both of her arms in the air like a bird taking flight.
If Ko was nervous about winning for the first time in nearly two years she certainly wasn’t showing it. While nearly every aspect of Ko’s game has changed, from her swing, to her caddie, to her coach to equipment, the one thing that remains is her incredible attitude.
No matter how difficult the last two years have been for Ko, she never let on. Ahead of Sunday’s round she talked about her focus on having fun, being at peace with whatever happened and having the confidence of knowing as long as she had another shot to hit, she had a chance to win.
“It’s never over until the very end,” Ko said Saturday. “Until that moment you’re taking off the glove and the ball goes in the hole on the last hole, you just can never give up. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Sunday, that never-quit attitude earned her a 15th career win on the LPGA Tour.
