Aditi Ashok logs T-7 in LPGA for her best finish

PTI

San Francisco: Young Indian golfer Aditi Ashok registered her career-best finish on the LPGA with a superb Tied-7 finish at the MEDIHEAL Championship after shooting a three-under 69 in the final round.

Aditi, whose previous best finish was T-8 at the Marathon Classic in 2017, finished at 7-under 281 as Lydia Ko ended a 22-month winless drought.

It was also Aditi's third Top-20 finish this season, following T-19 finish at Hugel-JTBC the previous week and the T-14 at Kia Classic in March. The fine finish also pushed Aditi up to 44th on the LPGA Rankings and she is now 79th in Rolex world rankings.

Aditi, who was T-10 after the third round, opened with a bogey on third, but birdies on fourth and fifth ensured a fair start. Another birdie on eighth saw her turn in two-under and on the back nine, she bogeyed 10th and 17th, but birdies on 12th, 15th and 18th ensured a 3-under 69.

Meanwhile, Lydia Ko, who changed coaches, caddies and clubs in last two years finally won after a gap of 22 months. It was her 15th LPGA win, 14 of which came before her 20th birthday.

The long-awaited win came less than a week after her 21st birthday. With her current caddie, Johnny Scott, a Scotsman, and a new swing coach Ted Oh, she finally seems to be settled.

Angel Yin, Shanshan Feng, Charley Hull and Jessica Korda, who started the day one stroke behind Ko, the 54-hole leader, tied for third at eight-under-par 280. Caroline Masson, Aditi Ashok, Ariya Jutanugarn and Nasa Hataoka finished at 281.

With the victory by Ko of New Zealand, there have now been 10 tournaments this season with 10 different winners from six different countries.