IMAGE: Aditi Ashok has risen to 15th on the LPGA’s Race to CME Globe and could well go better than career-best 48th in world rankings. Photograph: Aditi Ashok/Instagram
Aditi Ashok’s good run continued with yet another top-10 finish as she came up with third bogey-free round in four days to finish an impressive tied eighth Meijer LPGA Classic in Belmont, United States.
After a modest start on the final day at just 1-under through 11 holes, she picked up four birdies in the last seven holes for a 67, the same as she had scored on the second day.
With scores of 68-67-72-67, Aditi was 14-under for the week.
Ireland’s Leone Maguire picked her second LPGA win with a stunning final round of 64 that saw her get to 21-under and win by two shots over Thailand’s Ariya Jutangarn, who closed the weekend with a pair of 66s and a total of 19-under.
Aditi had slipped to T-13 after an even par 72 and that was the only day she had bogeys, two of them. She was bogey free on the first, second and final days.
In the final round, the Indian golfer birdied the third and then the putts just did not fall till she came to the 12th and then it flowed with further birdies on 14th, 15th and 18th.
Ironically, she hit the least fairways on the final day with nine out of 13 and also needed the most putts with 30, as against 28 each on the first three days. However, she found 15 of the 18 greens in regulation, the best for her all week.
It has been a season of different winners, with 11 players emerging champions in the 13 events held so far, but Aditi continued her search for a maiden win.
The latest tied-eighth finish was the fourth in last seven events on the LPGA for Aditi.
After missing the cut in her first three starts on the LPGA in 2023, Aditi found rhythm. She lost in a play-off at JM Eagle LA Championship, was T-5 at Cognizant Founders Cup, T-4 at Mizuho Americas Cup and T-8 at Meijer Classic.
In between she was T-27 at Bank of Hope matchplay and T-49 at Shoprite Classic.
Aditi has risen to 15th on the LPGA’s Race to CME Globe and could well go better than career-best 48th in world rankings. She was 50th at the start of the week.
Tied for fifth at the start the day, Maguire opened well through her front-nine with birdies on fifth and seventh. But, the birdie on 13 and the eagle on the 14 brought her into shared lead and she took off from there.
She produced a superb finish with birdies on the last three holes for a 64 as she made up for two runner-up finishes at Belmont in the past.
After setting the target a 21-under, Maguire awaited the results of Xiyu Lin and Amy Yang, two of three in the final grouping. Both Lin and Yang finished at -18 and a tie for third.
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn had the most amazing last three rounds after ending the first round tied for 102nd at one-over. She finished the last three days with 64-66-66 for 20-under in the last three rounds. South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim (69) completes the top five, finishing at 16-under and last year’s champion Jennifer Kupcho and Jasmine Suwannapura were tied-sixth at 15-under.
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