By Rahul Banerji
Aditi Ashok hit a bogey-free final round to take a share of tenth place at the Didriksons Skafto Open in Sweden while Vani Kapoor finished tied 38th at the Skafto Golf Club on Sunday.
Aditi, who missed an Olympic podium by a shot, was 4-under 203 on the par-69 course with rounds of 72, 64 and 67, seven shots behind winner Pauline Roussin Bouchard of France.
Ladies European Tour rookie Roussin Bouchard, in only her second professional event, needed to survive a fierce challenge from Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher to win by a shot.
The LET rookie carded a 9-under 60 on the second day at the 5,251-yard Skafto GC, which has four par-3s on the back nine, one more than our Jaypee Wishtown which has three on either nine.
The field battled freezing winds on the first day and Aditi went three over but bounced back with two strong rounds. Sunday’s card was bogey free and it gave the LPGA Tour regular a solid result in unfamiliar conditions.
Vani’s T38 was creditable too as she is in Europe playing subsidiary tours in a bid to gain LET points. The Gurgaon girl aggregated 6-over 213 with rounds of 71, 69 and 73.
With her flawless 67, Aditi finished level with Lydia Hall, Steph Kyriacou and Nicole Broch Estrup on 4-under-par totals.
Shubhankar fizzles out
At the Omega European Masters in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Shubhankar Sharma gave away the gains of three sub-par rounds with a 6-over Sunday card to tie for 50th place.
The spectacular Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club saw Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard emerge winner with a bogey-free 63 that gave him a one-shot margin over Bernd Wiesberger of Austria.
While the 20-year-old Dane birdied the 18th at Crans-sur-Sierre to go 13-under for the week, Wiesberger went into the pond in the group behind for a double bogey and a 12-under 268 total.
Shubhankar (68-68-67-76) gave away his top-10 placing after three solid days in the Swiss mountains with a 6-over round on Sunday that included an early double bogey and a triple.
It was a crippling handicap and one he could not recover from on a day the winner – and Sweden’s third-place finisher Henrik Stenson – went 7-under.
Battle on at BMW C’ship
Bryson DeChambeau and Partick Cantlay led the BMW Championship field on 21-under totals after Saturday even as Korea’s ironman Sungjae Im stayed on their heels with seven birdies at Caves Valley Golf Club.
Chasing a second PGA Tour win, the 24-year-old Im produced another rock-solid display for an 18-under 198 total and solo third place.
He sits three back of DeChambeau and Cantlay, who fired rounds of 67 and 66 respectively for 21-under 195s.
Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia were four behind the leaders on 17-under 199s along with Abraham Ancer of Mexico and Sam Burns of the US.
Both leaders have already won twice on the PGA Tour this season and play in the same group in the final round for the second time since the 2018 Memorial tournament that DeChambeau won.
The power-hitter leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (5.176), Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (5.820) and Driving Distance (326.7) while Cantlay holds the edge in Strokes Gained: Putting (10.791) and Total Birdies (23), the PGA Tour said.
Also read: Aditi Ashok qualifies for AIG Women’s Open, her 19th Major
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