Tokyo Olympics golf: Aditi Ashok in the mix for a medal going into final day
A solid three-under in the third round places Aditi Ashok second ahead of the final round. Diksha Dagar sits tied-51st. Bad weather could truncate the golf tournament.
India’s Aditi Ashok maintained second place with a three-under 68 in the third round of the Tokyo Olympics women’s golf tournament at the Kasumigaseki Country Club on Friday.
The Indian golfer has a combined score of 12-under and she is three shots behind leader and world No. 1 Nelly Korda of the USA going into the final day. The top three at the end of four rounds win the Olympic medals.
The final round on Saturday is scheduled to begin an hour earlier - at 3:00 AM IST - due to the possibility of rain later in the day.
In case the final round is abandoned midway due to weather, the scores at the end of the third round will count for the medal places and the Indian golfer will win the silver medal.
Aditi Ashok began the day with three pars before she brought her incredible short game to the fore.
Aditi Ashok sunk a 20-foot putt on the fourth for her first birdie of the day before narrowly missing another on the fifth, with the ball coming to a stop right on the ring.
Bogeys on the ninth and 11th holes put her back at tied-third. However, Aditi Ashok recovered one of those shots with a 10-foot putt for birdie on the 15th hole to climb back up to tied-second.
Another birdie on the 17th gave the Indian golfer sole second place ahead of Japan’s Mone Inami - with whom she was tied for second till then. Aditi Ashok then finished with a par on 18.
Meanwhile, the other Indian golfer in the field, 20-year-old Diksha Dagar carded a one-over 72 for the third round, giving her a combined score of seven-over after three rounds.
Starting on the 10th hole in the third round, Diksha Dagar shot one birdie and two bogeys.
Diksha Dagar, making her Olympics debut, is tied for 51st place going into the final round on Saturday.