Career-best finish for Aditi

Marbella (Spain), September 25

Aditi Ashok registered her career-best sixth place finish on the Ladies European Tour as she rounded off the week with an impressive back-nine, which saw her end the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open de Espana Femenino with a card of a three-under 69.

Aditi, 18, playing her first season as a professional, bounced back from a first round 74 to bring in cards of 67, 75 and 69.

She bettered her previous best as a pro, which was tied 9th in Germany earlier this month and her career-best of tied 8th in the Indian Open 2012, when she was a 14-year-old amateur.

“Sure, I am pleased with the performance. Overall, I felt I did not play the front nine very well, as I dropped a few shots every day, but in the end, it was a good week. I played well in Germany and now here, so I am looking forward to the next event,” she said later.

Aditi, who was tied 8th after the second round, opened with a bogey but got that shot back with a birdie on the par-4 sixth. However, another bogey on the ninth meant she turned in over par for the front nine for the third time in four days. But she made up superbly on the back nine. She birdied three times in four holes, on the 10th, 12th, 13th and then added a fourth one on the par-5 16th. She almost had an eagle on the 16th, as the ball caught the edge on her third shot and stopped inches away for a birdie.

Aditi said, “There were just 5-6 events till June-July, and now in 2-3 weeks, I have played almost three tournaments. Rio (Olympics golf) was there, it was good, I was in top-10 after the first two days. That gave me a lot of confidence. Now two top-10s. A lot of positives, I would say.” Azahara Munoz (70) overcame a strong challenge from American Beth Allen (72) to become the first Spaniard to win a home Open. Sophie Walker (71) and Georgia Hall (68) were tied 3rd and Florentyna Parker (67) was fifth. — PTI