Diksha Dagar in action on practice day ahead of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in England on Wednesday. Image courtesy let.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Diksha Dagar brushed off an early bogey to hold a share of eighth place after the opening day of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in England on Thursday.
The left-hander posted a 2 under par 69 to sit five shots behind early leader and world number two Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who returned a 7 under 64 on the Lancashire course.
India’s other entry in the field, LPGA regular Aditi Ashok (74) was tied for 75th and in need of a good second round to make the 36-hole cut in the last major for women this year.
Aditi in her 39th major start, a record by an Indian golfer, is playing the Open for a ninth time and has made the cut twice with a best finish of shared 22nd in 2018.
Diksha is making her seventh start at the AIG Women’s Open had a best of T21 in 2023 and was tied for 46th last year.
Playing in one of the last groups to set out on Thursday, Diksha opened with a brace of pars before dropping her only shot of the day on the third hole.
The two-time Ladies European Tour winner got the stroke back on the fifth and then began returned pars till the 12th hole.
Well-placed
Two birdies on 13 and 16 put Diksha in a good position and she closed with two pars for a 69 on the par-71 course alongside home favourite Charley Hull and 2025 LET Order of Merit topper Shannon Tan.
Aditi, who started in the morning wave, got her only birdie on the second hole before dropping shots on the four, five, 15 and 18.
For her part, Thitikul was in excellent form, rolling in three birdies on the trot on holes four, five and six and a fourth before the turn.
The Thai star made further gains on holes 11, 13 and 15 to seal her round of 64 on a course she has good memories of after winning the Smyth Salver during the 2018 edition.
“I should be better than when I was 15 years old! It played the same, I think there’s still bunkers in the way and when you play good you keep the momentum going. My strategy is to beat my score from when I was 15,” Thitikul said on the LET website.
“I had really good memories on the first hole. I remember the first day from 2018 and on the first hole, I hit it close to the pin.
“Making the cut was also a good memory, but I think I finished last so I was to keep improving on what I did last time.”
Two-time major winner Haeran Ryu of Korea and Japan’s Shiho Kuwaki share second place on 5 under 66.
Top form
Ryu, who won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Amundi Evian Championship back-to-back, began her day with a birdie at the first and added further gains on the fourth, sixth and seventh holes.
Despite a bogey on 15, the world number three bounced back with birdies on 16 and 18 to seal an opening round of five-under-par.
Kuwaki only had one bogey on her card and picked up shots on the fourth, fifth, sixth, 11th, 16th and 18th holes.
Yealimi Noh of the US and France’s Celine Boutier were tied for fourth on 4 under 67. Boutier was bogey-free after making an eagle on the sixth hole and birdies on nine and 13 for her 67 (-4).
Japan’s Chizzy Iwai and Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen shared sixth place on 3 under 68 par with nine players one shot further back in a group that included England’s Lottie Woad and Hull alongside Diksha.
Also read: Diksha’s finish at Dundonald sees her rise in LET Order of Merit
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