Aditi Ashok: Aditi had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win an Olympic medal, not just to immortalize herself in Indian sport but also to introduce golf into the mainstream.
Cut to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. After only two medals in Rio the previous year and a terrible Covid-19 that forced the Games to be postponed, the Indian competitors were performing admirably in Japan and appeared to be on their way to the country’s largest haul ever at the prestigious event.
After a more than four-decade drought, the Indian hockey team earned an Olympic medal in a tearful moment for fans. There was joy in the air. However, despite the importance of the performance, all eyes were on javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra, who was scheduled to compete a few days later. Around the time of the hockey festivities, word spread that there was a female Indian golfer who could potentially win a medal.
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There was every reason to be optimistic. She had done something quite unusual. She tied for second place in the first two rounds and ended a solo second on Moving Day, three strokes off the pace. She was not going to miss out on a medal, whether gold, silver, or bronze, especially with her mother, a guiding influence, functioning as her looper. That was the general consensus at the time.
Aditi Ashok’s game became bogged down in the final round, and she had to settle for fourth place. For a country that has barely won a handful of medals in Olympic history, it was heartbreak that no one was going to forget easily. Thankfully, Chopra’s historic gold medal on the same day alleviated and eventually completely eliminated the discomfort in a matter of hours.
Aditi Ashok had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only immortalize herself in Indian sport but also to introduce golf to the public. She blew a huge opportunity to remain in the public mind for a very, very long time. Many people’s hearts are broken as a result of such a blunder. Aditi, on the other hand, has demonstrated that she is not one of them.
The 25-year-old won the Ladies European Tour’s season-ending Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana on Sunday, taking home a winner’s cut of €97,500. She had also won the season’s first event, believe it or not. The event took place in early February at Vipingo Ridge in Kenya. However, in the run-up to the Spanish event, it was not Aditi Ashok who was of particular interest to Indians. The focus was on another Indian, Diksha Dagar, who was vying for the overall LET Race to Costa del Sol victory. The 22-year-old Haryana-born female, however, ended tied 7th in the event, missing out on something no one in Indian women’s golf has ever done before.
Aditi’s victory in Spain, like Chopra’s gold in Tokyo, has alleviated Diksha’s disappointment for fans. The Bengaluru girl finished fourth in the Race to Costa del Sol, slightly ahead of Diksha, who might have won the order of merit crown with a win in Spain.
“It started slowly; I missed a lot of birdies for the first six to eight holes.” I hit it close to seven and felt like I still had a shot after that. Initially, it felt like I was always two shots away. “I’m glad it picked up on the back nine,” Aditi Ashok remarked after winning at Real Club de Golf Las Brisas.
Aditi Ashok has also had a fantastic season on the LPGA, despite a rocky start. She failed to make the cut in her first three events. She only missed the cut once in the next 17 events. She finished tied for second at the JM Eagle LA Championship, her highest finish on the LPGA Tour to date, after missing the cut in her first three events. She actually lost in a three-way playoff. This year, she has finished in the top ten five times. Her victory in Spain was definitely the cherry on top. She’s come a long way since she couldn’t hold her own under pressure in the final round in Tokyo more than two years ago.
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