Tokyo Olympics: Golfer Aditi Ashok holds 2nd spot, may win medal if it rains

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok, appearing in her second Olympics, remained strong and held on to her second position by carding a three-under 67 in the third round at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With this, she remains in strong contention for the country’s maiden Olympic medal in golf.

Aditi was 12-under 201 after three rounds and is the sole golfer in the second position. She is three strokes adrift of leader Nelly Korda of the USA, who carded a two-under 69 in the penultimate round.

Four players — New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (66), Australia’s Hannah Green (67), Demark’s Kristine Pederson (70) and Japan’s Mone Inami (68) — shared the third spot with totals of 10-under 203.

In round 3, Aditi fired five birdies and two bogeys. She was three-under after picking up shots on the fourth, sixth and seventh holes before bogeys on ninth and 11th pulled her back.

However, she made a comeback on the 15th and 17th to keep herself in the hunt for a historic medal.

The other Indian golfer in fray, Diksha Dagar, remained in the lower half of the leaderboard after an erratic one-over 72, her third successive over-par card of the week.

Diksha, who started from the back-nine, managed one birdie against two bogeys in her round on Friday.

Aditi had finished tied 41st in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro edition.

Earlier in the second round, the golfer kept herself in the prime position of clinching the country’s first ever medal at the Summer Games with birdies on Hole Nos. 2, 5, 15, 17 and 18.

“The last three holes, I had a couple shots that were just a good number for me and I hadn’t really had any short approaches all day, maybe just a couple,” said Aditi.

With the competition faced with the possibility of being reduced to 54 holes due to impending thunderstorms over the weekend, the Indian knows she needs to keep firing at the flags to ensure a podium finish.

“This whole week there’s going to be so many girls making birdies, especially because the weather’s warm and the conditions are favourable,” she said.

Aditi is hopeful that her performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will attract plenty of attention and make the sport attractive.

She is dreaming of a medal but is experienced enough to know she needs to stay in the present.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Aditi, who finished 41st in Rio five years back, responded if she was thinking of a podium finish.

“It’s kind of like everyone’s thinking about it. It’s definitely at the back of my mind. But on the course, I’m not really thinking much about it. I’m just trying to hit the best shot I can hit.

“And hopefully people back home are watching it a lot more. I know a few of my friends are staying up to watch, which is cool. Olympics is huge.

“In a regular event people just wouldn’t follow it as much, even if it was a LPGA event or a major. So, yeah, I think the buzz has been good so far.”