Diksha, Aditi make solid progress at New South Wales Open

By Rahul Banerji

Indian teenager Diksha Dagar continued to impress at the Women’s New South Wales Open in Dubbo, even as her likely Tokyo Olympics team-mate Aditi Ashok made a dramatic move up the leader-board on Friday.

Diksha, shared fifth overnight on three under-par 69, improved to tied second alongside two others with a four-under second round of 68.

For her part, three-time LET winner Aditi came back strongly from a first round 73 to also return a 68 that took her into a share of 11^th place.

However, the other Indians in the field, Tvesa Malik, Gaurika Bishnoi, Astha Madan and Ridhima Dilawari, failed to survive the cut.

Hot run

On Friday, Diksha hit a hot patch to return an eagle and three birdies against a lone dropped shot to sit on 7-under 137 overall, two back of leader Manon De Roey, who shot a 64 to go with her first day’s 71.

Tvesa had rounds of 79 and 73, Gaurika returned 74 and 78, Astha’s count was a 78 and a 77 while Ridhima had a 78 to go with her first day’s 81. The cut came at 2-over par 146.

The long-hitting Diksha, who followed her Australia swing last year with the Investec South African Women’s Open title in March, eagled the par-5 10th hole and said she was satisfied overall.

‘Great irons’

“My approach shots were very good, and my putting. I had a birdie chance on every hole. My driving was slightly off and I missed left and right on a few holes, but my irons were great,” she said.

Belgium’s De Roey went into the second day lead with an 8-under par 64 and at 9-under 135, she is two strokes clear of Dagar, Camilla Lennarth and Agathe Sauzon.

Diksha, who has not had a top-10 finish in a world ranking tournament since her win in South Africa, came away from the front nine with two birdies before the eagle on 10.

She dropped a shot immediately but then had pars the next five holes before adding a third birdie to her card.

Aditi hit five birdies against one bogey in her 4-under round.

Also read: Diksha Dagar makes strong start at New South Wales Open