Aditi finishes best Indian at Oz Ladies Classic; Asian card for Baisoya

By Rahul Banerji

Aditi Ashok brought in the best finish from the Indian contingent at the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic at the Bonville Golf Resort in New South Wales, clocking in at tied 24^th with a 3-under par total of 285 on Sunday.

The 148^th world ranked Aditi, was 19 shots behind the winner, amateur Stephanie Kyriacou, who had four day aggregate of 22-under 266, a full eight strokes ahead of second-placed Ayean Cho (-14).

Aditi had rounds of 69, 75, 69 and 72 on the par-72 Bonville course at Coffs Harbour, one shot separating her group from the one in front on tied 21^st.

Next best

Aditi’s likely team-mate at the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, Diksha Dagar was next best in tied 32^nd place on a 1-under aggregate of 287 with cards of 73, 72, 71 and 71while Tvesa Malik ended in a tie for 57^th place on 4-over 292 (74-68-74-76).

Tvesa’s second day round of 4-under 68 was the best by an Indian at the event.

Three others, Ridhima Dilawari (77-71), Astha Madan (76-72) and Gaurika Bishnoi (78-78) failed to make the grade at the $350,000 (Australian) event that is co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour.

Baisoya seals Asian Tour card

Honey Baisoya was the lone Indian to book his Tour card from a 16-strong group playing the final stage of Asian Tour Qualifying School at the par-71 Lakeview Resort and Golf Club in Thailand.

The Delhi Golf Club-based Baisoya survived tough competition and five rounds at the venue to end in a share of 23^rd place alongside six others even as Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follet Smith topped the qualifiers with a 15-under total.

He was one shot ahead of Australia’s Will Hefferan (341) with Myanmar teenager Hein Sithu taking a merited third place on 12-under 343 after narrowly missing out last year.

Steady display

Baisoya had rounds of 69, 67, 70, 70 and 72) to finish on 7-under 348 in the event that was played over Lakeview’s A&B and C&D courses with the final round held on the former.

The top 35 finishers and ties will now be ranked accordingly for the 2020 season, which meant that Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat missed out narrowly as he was in tied 40^th place on 4-under 351 (70-71-68-70-72).

Others who did not make the final grade from the top 71 entering the final round of the qualifiers were Yashas Chandra in T51 on 3-under (72-72-67-69-72) and Khalin Joshi (72-67-70-72-71) while Manu Gandas was T63 on 1-over par 356 (71-72-67-71-75).

Of the 16 Indians who had entered the battle for Asian Tour cards, only five made the fourth round.

The first four rounds of the 90-hole battle were held across Courses A&B and C&D at the Lake View Resort and Golf Club. The final round was played only over the A&B course on Sunday.

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