Aditi lands season’s 2nd top-five finish at Cognizant Founders Cup

By Rahul Banerji

Despite a disappointing championship Sunday, Aditi Ashok brought in her second successive top-five finish on the LPGA at the Cognizant Founders Cup in Clifton, New Jersey.

After she was in the running over the first 54 holes, Aditi carded a one-over-par 73 in her closing round to take a share of fifth place at the $3 million event behind Korea’s Jin Young Ko.

In late April, the 25-year-old finished tied for second alongside China’s Lin Xiyu at the inaugural $3 million JM Eagle LA Championship and together the two recent results have put her in the top 20 of the Race to CME Globe LPGA rankings.

Aditi needed to start well on Sunday to push overnight leader, Minjee Lee, who was four shots ahead of her. Instead, she had her only over par round for a total of seven under at the Upper Montclair Country Club.

The India star dropped a shot on the first hole itself but bounced back immediately with an eagle three on the second. From there, though her round went southwards with a further two bogeys to drop back into a three-way tie for fifth.

At the top, Ko needed to survive a playoff against Australia’s Minjee Lee before pocketing a winner’s cheque of $450,000. The result left Aditi still searching for a breakthrough win in her seventh LPGA season.

Ko fired a 67 to overcome a four-shot deficit and set up the play-off where she beat defending champion Lee for her third win at the event in five years. It was her 15th title on the LPGA Tour overall, and a second for 2023.

Florida next

Aditi next plays an upcoming Ladies European Tour event, the Aramco Series Florida at Trump International in West Palm Beach this week.

With a season-opening win in Kenya this February and second place behind world number one Lydia Ko at the $5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International in Jeddah, Aditi leads the Race to Costa Del Sol LET rankings list.

lpga.com adds: Sunday’s showdown between Ko and Lee was the stuff the LPGA founders could have only dreamed of.

On the final day of the event that honours the 13 founding members of the LPGA Tour, Ko, a two-time major champion and former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings no. 1, came from four strokes back to challenge Lee.

Forcing the issue

Ko drained an improbable birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would ultimately force a one-hole playoff with Lee, who relinquished the three-stroke lead with which she started the day.

Ko ultimately sealed her victory on the first extra hole to become a three-time winner of the Cognizant Founders Cup, which features one of the largest purses outside the majors at $3 million.

The conclusion in New Jersey also capped a busy five-week stretch of events in which four of the five tournaments were determined by a playoff.

In two weeks, players return to action in Las Vegas for the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play presented by MGM Rewards.

Then, the LPGA welcomes a new event to the schedule and returns to New Jersey for the second time this season for the Mizuho Americas Open which will be contested at Liberty National Golf Club.

The tour remains in the Garden State for its next stop at the ShopRite LPGA Classic before heading to Michigan for the Meijer LPGA Classic, the final tune-up ahead of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club.

Also read: Aditi starts well at Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey