Aditi Ashok finished fourth in the quadrennial event.
Follow Us
In what could have been one of the most historic moments for India, Aditi Ashok finished fourth in the women’s individual strokeplay golf event. On the fourth and final day, Aditi Ashok gave the world leaders a tough fight. She finally managed to finish fourth. She could have won India’s first-ever Golf medal in Olympics.
The game was intense and Aditi was seen wavering between the second and the third spot, finally slipping to the fourth spot after the game resumed. The game was suspended for a short while due to bad weather conditions. At the 17th hole, the game was stopped due to bad weather conditions. Aditi Ashok could have been the first-ever Indian to have won a medal in golf in this quadrennial event.
The match began extremely nicely for Aditi, as early in Round 4, she had all par scores in the first four holes for Aditi. The first three holes were Par-4 and the fourth Par-3. She slipped to the third position. She had started the day at No. 2. However, this minor setback did not take away the hopes billions of people had from her, sitting at home, watching the Games that are being held without spectators.
Before the match began Aditi said, “Probably a lot of people weren’t counting on gold to win a medal, but I’m doing my best, and hopefully I can get it done.”
With her mother Maheshwari as her caddie in Tokyo, the Bengaluru golfer was remarkably consistent during the first three days, hitting as many as 15 birdies.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of change Indians are witnessing. For a country crazy for more popular sports, thousands of fans turned up to their TV sets at 4 am IST in the morning to cheer for Aditi Ashok. Many people jumped to Twitter to admit they didn’t understand the game but only woke up to cheer the young hopeful. Such was the case for the rest of the population, as well.
As the long match of golf progressed, Aditi got a hole in 4 on the Par-5 fifth to register her first birdie of the fourth and final round. She managed to reclaim the second spot and was tied for the silver. Aditi continued her great performance and putted Birdies on the 5th and 6th hole, as well. She was then tied with New Zealand’s Lydia Ko. It was almost as if Aditi was giving the best performance of her life when she reached hole No. 8. She hit a Birdie there as well, her third in eight holes of Round 4 today. It was almost historic at that point to see her in a three-way tie for the top spot. Nelly, Aditi and Lydia were in that tie.
Due to the constantly changing weather conditions in Tokyo, the first three positions were constantly changing. After a bogey at the 11th hole, Aditi found herself tied at the third spot. USA’s Nelly Korda and Denmark’s Emily Kristine in the first two spots, respectively.
As the game progressed, it turned into the biggest roller coaster ride of all time. It was always a slip between third place and then climbing back to the second, for the 23-year old. Aditi registered a birdie on the 14th hole to stay locked in a three-way tie for second place. With just four holes left to play, Aditi was looking to maintain her spot.
By the time the game reached the 18th hole– it was an ultimate thriller. The game stopped due to bad weather conditions and then making a comeback. By the end of the 18th hole, it was a very anti-climax as Aditi slipped 2 positions to finished fourth, ending India’s hopes for a medal.
Technically, a birdie is when an athlete scores at the hole in one stroke less than the declared par of any given hole. So, for instance, an athlete is at the par-3 hole. To score a birdie, they need to make sure they complete the hole consuming only two (2) strokes.
On the other hand, if someone fails to score a par and takes one extra stroke, it’s called bogey, which is bad; two extra strokes than par is called double bogey, which means very bad.
