Hannah Green of Australia champion of the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Aditi Ashok may have come up just short in the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro when she lost out in a three-way playoff, but the Indian number one is taking a bunch of positives from her first-ever runner finish in seven years on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour.
Aditi led the tournament at the halfway stage after rounds of 66 and 70 at the par-71 Wilshire Country Club, making her first cut in four LPGA starts this year. The 25-year-old shot 72 on Saturday to relinquish the lead, but bounced back in the final round with a 67 to tie Australian Hannah Green and China’s Xiyu Lin on nine-under-par 275. Aditi dropped out of the ensuing playoff at the par-three 18th after she failed to birdie the first extra hole, while Green went on to claim her third LPGA title with a par on the next hole as Lin bogeyed from the sand.
“I think overall it’s a good week. I’ve never played in this position on the LPGA, to be near the lead on the first day, kind of stay there the whole tournament,” said Aditi.
“The competition is just so deep out here. 10 people have a good tournament but only one can win. I’m happy with the way I played,” she added.
Earlier this year, Aditi won the Magical Kenya Ladies Open for her fourth title on the Ladies European Tour. She credits her success to the work she put in during the off-season on all aspects of her game, most crucially off the tee.
“Just working on swing speed in the off-season, gained a lot of yardage, so that’s definitely helped. The driving distance helped a lot, and just working on being more consistent through the game,” noted Aditi.
“I changed my irons back to what I was using a couple years ago, and I’m more comfortable with that, so that’s kind of helped this week,” she elaborated.
With this week off, Aditi intends to relax a little before preparing for her next start in the Cognizant Founders Cup on May 11-14 at Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey.
“This week is actually a little more exhausting than I thought it was going to be, but still, I’m happy with where my game is at. So just work on the same stuff and try and do some of this at the Founders too,” she said.
