Second runner-up finish for Aditi in two weeks, this time in Kenya

By Rahul Banerji

Aditi Ashok brought in her second runners-up result in two weeks as she finished one shot behind Magical Kenya Ladies Open winner Esther Henseleit at Vipingo Ridge in Mombasa on Saturday.

Aditi, whose world ranking of 147 is expected to improve substantially when the upgraded tallies are released on Monday, chased the 20-year-old German all the way but fell just short. She will rue a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 eighth hole for a long time.

Last week, Aditi had ended tied second at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open in Marbella, Spain.

In what turned out to be a three-way battle between Aditi, Henseleit and Julia Engstrom, it was the Swede who made much of the early running. But four dropped shots first brought the chasers in close, and then let them through to make in a two-way battle at the end.

Holding steady

Aditi, who was at one point three shots behind Esther came back strongly on her in-bound nine but the German held steady.

With 10 top-ten finishes already behind her in a stunning rookie season, she knocked in right birdies to hold back the charging Aditi till the very last.

The Indian, now an LPGA regular, closed out with a birdie of her own to follow the eagle three on the par-5 11^th hole to tally a 13-under 275 (73-70-67-65) while Henseleit had a 14-under aggregate (69-70-71-64), her Sunday round being the best card on the leader-board.

Henseleit, Ashok and Engstrom (277, 67-66-70-74) picked up euro 45,000, 27,000 and 18,000 pay-outs respectively. The Swedish teenager had led by seven shots going into the final round.

It was double delight for Henseleit as she not only won her maiden Ladies European Tour title, but also sealed Rookie of the Year honours in this final event of the season.

Diksha Dagar had a 3-under round of 69 on Sunday to go with earlier cards of 77, 73 and 70 for a share of 16^th place on 1-over par 289. Tvesa Malik, for a while in the running for rookie of the year, was tied 27^th (72-71-73-76) and Astha Madan (74-76-76-71) recovered well on the final day to be tied 54^th.

Stenson holds on for HWC win

Over in the Bahamas, Henrik Stenson returned a 6-under 66 to seal a one-shot victory in the Hero World Challenge over defending champion Jon Rahm on Saturday.

Five-time past winner Tiger Woods had his share of chances to break a dry run at this event since 2011 as he was one of five who swapped around the lead on the final day at the Albany Golf Club but the Swede was determined to have the final say.

Saturday’s title ended a 50-tournament drought for Stenson, who last won at the 2017 Wyndham Championship.

A 15^th hole eagle for Stenson was the turning point as it gave him the advantage with a two-shot swing and though Rahm led for a while with four shots gained in three holes, the former parred his final three holes for the title.

Patrick Reed, penalised two shots on Friday for a rule violation, was sole third a 66 of his own.

Also read: Aditi Ashok just misses out at Marbella with T2 finish in Costa del Sol Open