CALIFORNIA
23-year-old Aditi Ashok of Bangalore kept her streak alive, making six consecutive cuts on the tough LPGA tour, carding 70-71-69-73 (1-under 283) to finish tied-39th at the US$ 1.5mn LA Open in Los Angeles, California.
Ashok’s previous best run of five consecutive made cuts was set between April and June in 2018, her second season on tour. However, that stretch included two top-10 finishes. During this current streak the 23-year-old hasn’t cracked the top 20, with her best finish being a tie for 23rd. While Ashok has been consistent so far in 2021, she has struggled to go low, managing only three rounds in the 60s out of 24 total rounds, which works out to 12.5% of her rounds played. In contrast, she had 20 rounds in the 60s out of 78 rounds played in 2018, a percentage of 25.6%.
Digging a little deeper, she is averaging 2.66 birdies a round this year compared to 3.33 in 2018. However, in 2019 she averaged only 2.55 birdies a round, so 2021 is a marginal improvement on her last full year on tour. Considering the rust from a pandemic-enforced layoff and the lack of proper accessible practice facilities in Bangalore, that hopefully points to better results, as she gets more competitive rounds under belt.
Aditi, who made news at the 2016 Rio Olympics, currently stands 44th on the Olympic Golf Rankings and is sure to qualify for Tokyo Olympics this year as well since the top 60 get in .
Having travelled from Bangalore to USA in February, Aditi joined the “bubble” of players and tour officials travelling every week to places as far as Hawaii and Florida. Aditi told indiagolfweekly.com: “Living in the bubble is definitely not ideal but I feel lucky that I can still play golf. I’m thankful that the tour has started up again and following the protocols are the most important to keep playing week after week. It has been a good start to the season considering that I hadn’t played on LPGA since August 2020. Game is definitely there and have a lot of positives to take from the last few weeks. Have a bit of a break before the next event so will keep working on the basics.”
She will be now travelling back to Bangalore for a three week break and hopes to return to USA to play next at the US$ 1.3mn Pure Silk Championship in Virginia, May 20-23. From then on Aditi will play in USA till mid July when the LPGA shifts to Europe for four weeks including two majors – the Evian Championship in France and Women’s British Open. And after that hopefully off to Tokyo for the Olympic Games !!