By Rahul Banerji
Aditi Ashok fell agonisingly short of adding a fourth Ladies European Tour title to her collection when she finished tied second at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana at Marbella, Spain, on Sunday,
The 21-year-old stayed one shot behind defending champion Anne Van Dam at the Aloha Golf Club despite briefly holding the lead early on in her round, the Dutchwoman winning her second title at the open in as many years.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen was shared second alongside the Bangalore-born Indian.
Aditi had rounds of 70, 67, 69 and 70 to ensure her first top-five finish of the season but the story could have had a different ending.
In the lead
At one point, Aditi reeled off three straight birdies to even hold the lead but two dropped shots before making the turn eventually proved to be crucial in deciding the standings.
Two under after nine holes, she then swapped a birdie for a bogey on her back nine before six straight pars ensured she would stay close to the eventual winner, playing in the final group behind her alongside Denmark’s Madsen.
Her four sub-par rounds for the week in Spain earned Aditi 22,500 Euro.
Tvesa Malik (72-71-75-72) was the next best Indian at tied 32nd while Diksha Dagar (72-69-77-73) was one spot behind her in shared 39th place alongside Europe’s Solheim Cup captain Catriona Mathew and four others.
Aditi’s previous wins on the LET were the 2016 Hero Ladies Indian Open and Qatar Ladies Open, and the 2017 Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi.
Retaining her title
At the top, it was Van Dam who took away the winner’s cheque of 45,000 Euro for the second year running on Sunday for a fifth LET title.
The Dutchwoman trailed by three shots after the third round and still behind Madsen on the 18th tee before the Dane drove into the lake and three-putted for a double-bogey. That three-shot swing handed Van Dam the title after she putted for par.
“I did not expect that,” Van Dam, 24, was quoted as saying on the LET website. It was her third trophy in Spain, following her Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open and Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España titles in 2018.
“That’s golf. It was a crazy day. If you would have told me at the beginning of the day that two under was enough to win, I would have said, okay, I’ll take it! It was a different day with harder conditions, a little bit of wind and it got really cold towards the end.”
“Nanna (Madsen) is a good friend of mine and I would have loved to have beaten her in a play-off; that would have been a better feeling for me, but that’s golf.
“She took more of a risk hitting a driver off the tee and I’ve been hitting an iron off the tee there all week.”
Gifted away
Madsen said afterwards: “I lost today; Anne didn’t really win. I played terrible and had three double-bogeys which cost me everything.
“On one hole, I had a wrong distance, then I pulled one and then on the last one, I played aggressively and had said that I would play driver, no matter what.”
Winner in 2016 and 2017, Azahara Muñoz, tied for fourth with Olivia Cowan and Julia Engstrom, while Cheyenne Woods, Christina Kim and Order of Merit leader Marianne Skarpnord shared seventh place.
The final event of the season is the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
Also read: LPGA, LET join hands to broaden scope, reach of women’s golf
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