By Rahul Banerji
Aditi Ashok sank seven birdies in a final round of 6-under 64 on her way to a tie for sixth place at the Pelican Women’s Championship in Florida on Sunday.
The 23-year-old from Bangalore also virtually sealed her LPGA card for another season as she now stands 74th in the Race to CME Globe list with the top 100 keeping their Tour status.
It was Aditi’s third top 10 finish from 19 starts this season and she will next appear in the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida starting later this week.
Now in her fifth year on the Ladies Professional Golfers Association Tour since making her rookie debut in 2017, Aditi has long been a flag-bearer for Indian women’s golf at the very top.
At Bellair, Florida, Aditi went 67-71-65-64 to aggregate 13-under par 267, four shots behind winner Nelly Korda, who needed to survive a play-off against Lexi Thompson to land the top prize.
“Had a great week and absolutely enjoyed playing @pelicanlpga. Thrilled with my T6th position,” Aditi tweeted later.
Korda, Thompson, Sei Young Kim and Lydia Ko all finished on 17-under 263 before the former emerged winner on the very first play-off hole against the other three women.
There was plenty of drama before that with the two Americans tied for the overnight lead before making a mess of their respective closing holes to open the door for Ko and KIm.
And when it mattered, Korda stepped up to deliver against three other Major winners, having dunked a triple-bogey 17th hole to fall into their clutches in the first place.
Tvesa on a roll
On the Ladies European Tour meanwhile, Tvesa Malik continued her impressive run with a second straight top 10 finish, this time in the individual section of the Armco Team Series in Jeddah last week.
The Gurgaon golfer had round of 71, 67 and 68 to tally 10-under par 206, six shots behind winner Pia Babnik (16-under 200).
Earlier this month, Tvesa was tied for ninth place in the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, also in Jeddah.
Diksha Dagar (68-73-72) was further down the order this week in a share of 38th place on 3-under par 213.
In the team event, Team Pedersen took the win at the expense of Team Lydia Hall in a two-hole playoff at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
Emily Kristine Pedersen, Hannah Burke, Krista Bakker and amateur Ahmed Al Subaey began the day five shots behind the leaders and produced a final round of -18 to reach a total of 51-under-par.
With the floodlights turned, captain Pedersen then completed the playoff against Hall, with an eagle on the second hole to retain the title for the Dane, the LET said.
Germany’s Olivia Cowan ended the individual tournament in second place one shot back of Slovenia’s Babnik with Hall and Carlota Ciganda finishing T3.
With this latest result which is her seventh top 10 placing of the season, Tvesa has climbed to 18th place on the Race to Costa Del Sol list, the LET’s Order of Merit.
Her next outing will be in Spain from November 25 at the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open.
Also read: Aditi Ashok scripts top-10 finish in Sweden, T-38 for Vani Kapoor
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