Female India golf star Aditi Ashok could trump the men and give the country its first premier title in the sport
India’s Aditi Ashok at the Dubai Ladies Masters on December 10, 2016. Pic/Getty Images
Women's golf was never really big in India. With barely two dozen active professionals, women's golf was expected to take some time before making an impact. But suddenly last year, Aditi Ashok shortened that waiting period.
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This time last year, Aditi was dividing her time between preparations for school-leaving examinations from Frank Anthony Public School in Bangalore to working on her short game and pouring over airline schedules.
What a year 2016 was for young Aditi Ashok. And what a year 2017 promises to be as she has risen from being India's top amateur to one of the most promising talents in women's golf.
When her classmates were deciding on which colleges to apply to, Aditi announced to her parents that she was ready to move from amateur to professional ranks in women's golf.
Everything happened in a motion resembling a blur -- she won the LET Qualifying School's Final stage; becoming the first Indian -- men or women -- to do so; made her pro debut Down Under and also played the Olympics; ran up a string of Top-10s before becoming the first Indian woman to win on LET and again dashed to the US for the LPGA Q-School before rounding off the year in Dubai. In the process, she won two titles, a whole lot of Top-10s; the Rookie of the Year honours and a second place in Overall Order of Merit on Ladies European Tour, all of which catapulted her into an all together different bracket.
So, what does 2017 hold for her? While she may need to wait to see where all she can get a spot on the LPGA, she will nevertheless get into most events in China, Korea, Taipei, Malaysia and Japan, which form part of the international schedule of LPGA. In the weeks she does not tee up at the LPGA, she will have the option of playing on LET. Between the two schedules, she could get her world ranking -- currently 111 to inside Top-50 or maybe even better, which could open the doors to the Majors for her. While the men continue their quest to bring India its first Major in golf, don't be too surprised if Aditi beats them
first to it.
Tailpiece: While watching out for Aditi, don't overlook Anirban Lahiri, who after retaining his PGA Tour card, could well get his breakthrough win in 2017.
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