Bogey-free Aditi lies fifth at Dana Open on LPGA

Aditi Ashok of India plays a shot on the seventh hole during the first round of the Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club on July 13, 2023 in Sylvania, Ohio.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

India’s Aditi Ashok got off to a flying start with a bogey-free five-under 66 to lie tied-fifth after the first round of the Dana Open on the Ladies PGA Tour.

Aditi was two shots behind Sweden’s Linn Grant and Thailand’s Jaravee Boonchant, who shot seven-under 64 each, while another Thai, Ariya Jutanugarn and Denmark’s Emily Pedersen, whose first LET win came in Aditi’s home event, the Hero Indian Open in 2015, carded 65 each to be second.

Aditi was tied fifth with eight others, including the KPMG PGA champion Rose Zhang, Tardy Bailey, Linnea Johansson, Matilda Castren, Linnea Strom, Xiyu Lin, Kelly Tan and Xiaowen Yin at the par-71 Highland Meadows Golf Club.

The 25-year-old Indian, who had two disappointing weeks at the Majors, KPMG US Women’s PGA and the US Women’s Open, where she was 76th and T-33rd, is trying to get back to the form that has brought her four Top-10 finishes on the LPGA besides three others, including a win on the Ladies European Tour.

Aditi, whose 25 Major starts is an Indian record, is sitting at a career-high world ranking of 46 but is still knocking on the doors for a maiden win on the world’s premier Ladies pro golf Tour.

Starting on the tenth, Aditi birdied 12th and the 17th and added three more on the second, third and eighth. She had no bogeys on a day when she found all 14 fairways and 16 of the 18 greens in a superb display.