Tokyo Olympics: Why did Indian golfer Aditi Ashok miss out on a medal?

Indian golfer
Aditi Ashok went toe-to-toe with the world’s best golfers an in the Tokyo
Olympics, but the 23-year-old missed out on a medal at the 72 holes of the
women’s individual event by just one shot on Saturday.

Despite missing out
on a medal, Ashok put India on the golfing map of the world with her splendid
performance. The world number 200 finished fourth missing a medal by a whisker.

So how did Aditi
Ashok miss out on a medal?

There’s many a
slip between the cup and the lip, and golf in all ways is a game of fine
margins. Inches are what make a difference in the sport. Aditi dropped only
five shots over the four days, but four of them came in the final two rounds.

Also Read | Meet the ‘tapasvi’ behind wrestler Ravi Dahiya’s silver at Tokyo Olympics

The Indian golfer
was consistent all through rounds of 67, 66, 68 and 68. What became her primary
failing was her inability to make any birdies over the final four holes.

Aditi, who is an
excellent putter and has shown her prowess in the tournament, is not the best at
driving off the tee. On Saturday, she frequently missed fairways which made it
difficult for her to get her approach shots close to the hole.

She scrambled well
for the most part, but with Japan’s Inami Mone and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko
shooting 65s in the final round, Aditi’s 68 fell short of what was required.

Also Read | Birdie, bogey, eagle: Basic golf terms you should know

For Aditi, it
would be the missed putt on the 17th hole that became her undoing. According to
her own estimation, as reported in The Indian Express, Ashok hit a perfect putt
and was expecting it to drop, but the gods of golf were not on her side. She
had a marginal chance of a birdie from 25 feet on the last hole, and gave it a
go, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Eventually, Aditi
finished fourth. United States’ Nelly Korda won gold, Japan’s Inami Mone won
silver and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko got bronze.