Amateur Aditi holds her own against top pros from Europe, shares 3-way lead

Gurgaon, November 30: Aditi Ashok, a 14-year-old amateur from Bangalore, stole the thunder on the opening day of the Hero Women’s Indian Open as she shared honours with two veterans from the Ladies European Tour, 30-year-old Becky Brewerton of Wales and 42-year-old Stefania Croce of Italy. The trio shot three-under 69 on the first day at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Friday.

On a day, which was sunny to start with but later gave to slightly windy and cooler conditions, there were just 15 sub-par rounds and another 10 players played par on a course that was both challenging and rewarding for smart play.

Aditi, whose only two previous competitive rounds at this par-72 DLF Golf and Country Club, came last year when she carded eight and five over to exit early from the 2011 Hero Women’s Indian Open, was the toast as she had five birdies against just two bogeys.

Two other Indian challengers, Sharmila Nicollet and Nalini Singh Siwach had contrasting rounds but identical scores of one-over 73 each. Sharmila, the best Indian last year at tied 22nd, had two birdies and an eagle against five bogeys.

The reigning All India Amateur Champion, Aditi, accompanied by her parents who walked the full 18 holes, said, “I gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities. I have a good short game and it went well today. My approach shots were also good today. I am happy to be there on top along with such experienced pros but I am not going to get ahead of myself. I know things can change very quickly.”

Aditi had one monster birdie putt from 45-50 feet on the 16th and her other birdies included two 15-footers on second and eighth. She birdied the 11th and 13th from six feet. A bad drive on the 10th, her starting hole and a mis-hit to the left on fifth cost her the two bogeys.

Playing this course only for the second time in a competition she said, “This is only my second time at this course. The first Indian Open last year when I shot 8-over and 5-over. But I had some good practise here the last few days.”

An early starter in the game, Aditi, has been a top amateur on the Indian scene. She has won two titles this season and is just one point behind in the race for Order of Merit with two more events left on the calendar. “I started (golf) when I was 5 and half at KGA, along with my parents. I spent hours on the putting greens. At seven, I was playing in the South Zone,” said Aditi, who after cutting down her handicap from 18 in January 2010 to January 2011, is now a scratch player.

In 2011, Aditi was just 13 years of age, when she won a WGAI Pro event, while still being an amateur, which made her the youngest ever to win a pro event. She beat Smriti Mehra in a play-off. A regular member of the Indian amateur team, she has also played Queen Sirikit Cup and numerous internationals, and won various age-group titles.

Speaking of her preparation, Aditi, added, “Last month, I went to Malaysia for intensive training with Steven Giuliano. That has added more structure to my practice, given me a lot of confidence (bunker, pitching, putting). I am an accurate hitter but I think distance will come with age.”

Her training sessions are quite hard as she practices from 3pm to 7 pm after attending school in the morning. “I play full rounds on the weekends,” she added.

Croce, 42, a pro since 1989 has just one win, while the 30-year-old Brewerton a pro since 2003, has three wins on the LET.

Croce, playing the course for the first time after recovering from a fever earlier in the week, breezed around with five birdies against two bogeys.

The highlight of Brewerton’s round was an eagle on the par-5 sixth and she was five under par after 15 holes but then dropped two shots in her last three. “I’m happy and it’s nice to be up there after round one,” said the former Solheim Cup player from Abergele. “A lot of rounds this year I’ve struggled so it’s nice to be up there again.”

On her round, Brewerton explained: “I started off pretty average, parred the first few and then I eagled six, the par five, got on in two and made quite a long putt there, so obviously that kicked me on a bit. I hit a driver and then a rescue into the green, then holed a 40 feet putt. On the back nine I started to play really well and got on to a good birdie run, I think 12, 14, 15, which was good. I hit the wrong club on 16, hit it over the green, so a bit of a mistake, I could have hit one less but the water at the front makes you go more past the pin and I had a terrible lie so I didn’t have much chance of getting up and down there. Then on 18 I decided to go for it because I felt like I had the shot but I just came out of it a bit and didn’t carry the water. If I’m there tomorrow I’ll go for it again.”