Diksha Dagar finishes in top 25 at South African Women’s Open

Diksha Dagar with her father and caddie Narinder at the Women’s South African Open. Image courtesy Ladies European Tour.

By Rahul Banerji

Two-time Ladies European Tour winner Diksha Dagar returned a closing 1 under par 71 and a level par 288 aggregate for shared 24^th place at the Investec SA Women’s Open in Cape Town on Sunday.

Diksha earlier had rounds of 73, 70 and 74 at the Erinvale Country and Golf Estate where Belgium’s Manon Del Roey emerged winner by a comfortable four strokes from England’s Gabriella Cowley and Momoka Kobori of New Zealand.

The 23-year-old Diksha has had a consistent season on the LET and has just missed one cut from her seven starts and three top 10 finishes from the other six.

Starting from the tenth tee, the left-hander dropped one shot against two birdies before the turn and made pars all the way thereafter.

In all, Diksha found 11 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation and had only one three-putt, though she did miss out on some makeable birdie putts.

Diksha, who won in Czechia last year for her second LET title, next plays the Aramco Ladies Korea from May 10 to 12

Consistent run

This season she has finished ninth at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, tied sixth at the Aramco Series Tampa in Florida and tied third at the Joburg Ladies Open last week. Her only missed cut was at the Aramco ladies International in Saudi.

The result also lifted Diksha to ninth place on 2024 Order of Merit with 455 points from her six LET starts this season.

Del Roey shot a 72 on Sunday to total 14 under par 274 on a day there were just two cards below 70 on a breezy day at Erinvale.

Nicole Garcia of South Africa (71) was fourth and Ines Laklalech of Morocco, placed second overnight slipped to fifth with a 76.

India’s other three players, Tvesa Malik, Vani Kapoor and Ridhima Dilawari missed the cut.

“I’m super happy with my performance this week!” De Roey said. “I had a couple of goals at the beginning of this year and one of them was to win again.

“I like playing in windy conditions because I feel like I can shape the ball well. I can just let the wind do the work and I feel a bit more relaxed.”

Also read: Tied third place finish for Diksha Dagar at Joburg Ladies Open