Nov 13, 2016: She came in as a girl and walked out a woman. It is not to say that the transformation of Aditi Ashok into a champion golfer came in a moment, but to acknowledge that the story was carved out of the Gary Player course at the DLF Golf and Country Club. Aditi Ashok, leading by two at the start of the day, hardly faltered in her inexorable march toward her maiden Ladies European Tour title. Victory tasted sweeter, for it came at home amidst a swarm of eager enthusiasts rooting lustily for the young champion.
Belen Mozo, playing with Aditi as she has all three rounds, gained momentum with a long putt from off the green at the eighth and kept pace all day. The duo were tied in the lead heading to the 17th, where both players made a bogey.
That bogey dropped them into a tie with Brittany Lincicome, who showed on Sunday why she is a two time major champion. She produced a final round 69 to sit in the clubhouse at two under 214.
As tension mounted inside the DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon, Aditi and Belen were separated by just a few yards on either side of the fairway. After Belen laid up to the right of the pin, Aditi went straight for the flag.
But she missed her shot slightly to the left and it proved to be a fortuitous mistake. Her ball caught a friendly ridge in front of the bunker and ball rolled back nice and sweet toward the cup.
She has been putting solid all week and she wasn’t going to let up a short putt for birdie and a historic victory.
Aditi is the first Indian to have won the tournament and the first ever Indian also to win on the Ladies European Tour.
Game Changer, screamed an elated Smriti Mehra. Force Multiplier, perhaps too. Whichever way you look at it this certainly is beginning of a new era in Indian golf.
