By Rahul Banerji
Aditi Ashok continued her scorching start to the 2023 season, taking over the lead at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International near Jeddah ahead of world number one Lydia Ko on Friday.
The Bangalore golfer already has a win and a third places from two starts on the Ladies European Tour so far and has shown no signs of letting that momentum drop.
At the $5 million event in Jeddah, Aditi followed her opening day’s seven under par 65 with a 66 for a two-shot lead over Ko (64-69) of New Zealand and Lillia Vu (67-66) of the United States.
Ko was the overnight joint leader with Aditi just one shot back. On Friday, they had swapped places.
Playing the back nine at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club first, Aditi tore the course apart, going seven under with an eagle three and five birdies.
The eagle came from a chip-in from a greenside bunker on the par-5 18th hole.
Though the Race to Costa Del So leader would then drop two shots on her in-bound nine holes, a closing birdie ensured the gap over the chasing pack was two shots going into the weekend.
Standout show
In a field that has many of the world’s top players from both the LPGA and LET, it has been a stellar performance so far from the 24-year-old Indian flag-bearer.
Her performance at the Saudi event comes after a win at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open and third place at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
“Today was a good day,” Aditi told the LET website on Thursday. “I think early on I hit a couple of bad drives, but I managed to save par on those holes.
Ko and Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn – incidentally once Aditi’s partner at an Aramco team event – were on top after Thursday and while the latter fell away, Ko returned a three under 69 to go with her opening 64.
“I knew that between today and tomorrow that today was the day to take advantage of the calmer conditions,” said the recently-married Ko, on the LET website after the first day.
“When I came here in November the wind picked up in the afternoon. At this time of the year and with the forecast, it’s only going to be stronger and probably some of the strongest winds I’ve seen out here.
“I knew that today with some of the pin positions I needed to be a little bit more aggressive. All in all, I putted really well out there.
“Most of the opportunities I had I was able to take advantage of that, it was that kind of a day and a nice start to the season. It’s cool to see I have an officially under-par round as a Mrs,” the 2021 winner added.
Also read: Aditi continues good run with third-place finish in Morocco
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