Aditi Ashok had an incredible 2023 which saw her secure two victories on the LET and climb into the top 50 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
The Indian star opened her season with a victory at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open and closed it with a win at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de Espańa.
But it was her runner-up finish at the 2023 edition of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF that gave the two-time Olympian a much-needed confidence boost.
“The runner-up finish at ASLI last year definitely made me feel like my game had improved over the off-season and that field last year was the main thing that gave me the confidence,” she said.
“Playing in such a strong field gives me confidence, but I feel like that got my year rolling and I played some great golf after that.
“I really liked the golf course in Jeddah, that back nine was spectacular. In the finishing holes it was really tough to score, and I feel like it got interesting because of that back nine. But it’s a new course, I feel like I do well whether I’ve played there before or not so I’m not thinking too much about it being a new venue.
“I feel like the golf course is kind of narrow and the greens are undulating which I think makes them smaller too – that’s what I noticed and what I feel like I need to work on to play well.”
This week there is a prize purse of $5m USD that is equal to the men’s equivalent up for grabs with a winner’s share of $750,000.
Ashok will begin the tournament on Thursday at 7.45 am (local time) alongside China’s Muni He and Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela.
The five-time LET winner also spoke about how pleased she was to finish her 2023 season on a high by winning the LET’s season finale in Spain.
She explained: “It was great to win in Spain. For those two wins, the first one I was leading by a lot, and I didn’t really think much about the win. Spain was very different; the field was a lot stronger.
“It was the best people there from the whole year from the rankings. It was really cool and it was my fifth win but my first in Europe. I finally felt like I had won in Europe on the LET, so that felt good.
“It has always been a tournament that I have wanted to win. It’s a tournament that has so much history to it and especially coming close at that event three or four other times.”
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