She is the great Indian hope with a glittering resumé, having won Lalla Aicha Tour School, represented her country at the Olympic Games and racked up four top 10 finishes in a row from her last five LET events.
Now Aditi Ashok faces perhaps her greatest challenge – adding a main LET trophy to her cabinet in her home country at the Hero Women’s Indian Open at DLF G&CC this week.
Though she did win a few times on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour on Indian tour a few times while still as an amateur, Ashok is looking to build on her recent string of strong performances.
On Wednesday meeting the media, she said, “I have been on the road six weeks in a row, so yes it is demanding. But I am still young and injury free, so it is not a problem.”
The fact that she is enjoying her life as a touring pro is not lost on anyone. She adds, “I have always dreamt about being a professional player and I now get to do this for a living. It makes me very happy that I can play golf at this level.”
Asked about the experience of the Rio Olympic Games, she said, “Everyone had their reasons. The Olympics was very important to me. Ever since it was declared that the Rio games will include golf, I was excited about playing in Rio.”
She went on, “I played well in the first two rounds. Even though I could have done better over the weekend, we could get some attention to women’s golf and people have been following me ever since. So it was a nice experience overall.”
Talking about the Gary Player course, where she played last year and finished tied 13th in her last event appearance as an amateur, she added, “I enjoyed the course and the 17th (which was very difficult last year) is much better now. I am focused on the event and looking forward to a good week.”
Aditi has featured in the Hero Women’s Indian Open each year since 2012, when she ended tied eighth as a 14-year-old.
A win for Aditi would make her the first Indian woman to win a title on the LET but it will not be easy with an exceptionally strong field this year.
