Tvesa Malik ties for ninth as Lydia Ko wins Saudi International

By Rahul Banerji

A late birdie ensured Tvesa Malik would finish in a share of ninth place on the final day of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International in Jeddah on Sunday.

The Gurgaon-based Tvesa finished on 10-under par 278 with LPGA regular Aditi Ashok taking a share of 13^th place one shot behind.

While Tvesa had rounds of 74, 69, 67 and 68, Aditi’s card read 75-69-69-68 even as New Zealand’s Lydia Ko eased to a five-shot win at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

It was Tvesa’s fifth top 10 finish from 21 starts on the Ladies European Tour this year and took her to 23^rd place in the Order of Merit, the Race to Costa Del Sol.

In a share of tenth place for much of the final day on nine-under overall, Tvesa picked up a final birdie on the par-4 17^th to round off her Jeddah campaign.

Eight birdies marked Tvesa’s final card but she also dropped four shots along the way.

Steady play

For her part, Aditi started well with five birdies in her first 10 holes and had just one bogey. She parred the final six holes to stay on 9-under overall.

At the top of the order, Ko fired a final round of 65 to finish five shots up the road from runner-up, Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, and 10 shots better than the two-way tie for third place.

Ko, seventh in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, opened at 16-under-par before finally tallying 67-70-63-65, her 7-under for the day including an eagle-three.

The two-time Major winner eventually posted a total of 23-under-par, the LET website noted.

Having fun

“When I was out there, I was just trying to play the best golf that I can,” Ko was quoted as saying.

“I knew a lot of the top names were playing really well and this is a golf course where there’s a fair amount of birdies, so I was just trying to have my fair share of them and have fun out there.

“It helps when you’re going into the final round with a four-shot cushion, you could shoot the same score as others, but you have those shots from the last three days.

“I birdied the first hole and holed two really good putts for par on two and three which really set the momentum up, and from there I tried not to look back and just go forward.”

Atthaya Thitikul’s second-place finish also helped her seal the Race to Costa Del Sol after a final round of 6-under 66. The 18-year-old is the youngest-ever winner of the LET’s Order of Merit.

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