St. Andrews (Scotland), Aug 23 (PTI) Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar were blown away by the wind as the Indian pair exited the 2024 AIG Women’s Open at the halfway stage on Friday.
Aditi added another 76 to her opening-round score to total 8-over for two days, while Diksha Dagar, who shot 77 in the first round, added a 76 and totalled 9-over.
The second round was yet to be completed but the Indians had no chance of making the weekend rounds as the cut was likely to fall at 4-over.
This was Aditi’s eighth Women’s Open and the fifth time she has missed the cut at the Major, where her best came in 2018 when she finished tied-22.
Diksha, playing the Women’s Open for the fifth time, missed the cut for the fourth time, though the last time she played, at Walton Heath, her T-21 finish was the best showing by an Indian woman at the Open.
Aditi managed to handle the conditions well for 14 holes, at which point she was even par with two birdies and two bogeys. She was 4-over at that stage for the tournament and seemed fine to make the cut.
Then came the cruel triple bogey on par-4 15th, where she went into the rough and then a pot bunker and three-putted to make it worse. A bogey followed on the 16th and suddenly four shots had been lost in two holes. A par-par finish was just not enough and she missed the cut by a big margin.
Diksha, after 77 on the first day, needed a low score. She looked settled with six pars in a row and then over the next six holes she dropped four bogeys. She was unable to make up over the last six, which she again parred.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda shot a bogey-free 68 that matched her effort on the first day. She had four birdies and no bogeys on the second day against five birdies and one bogey on the first. With just one bogey in 36 holes, she is looking set to take a second Major for 2024 after her win at Chevron earlier.
She led the defending champion American Lilia Vu (69-70) and last year’s runner-up England’s Charley Hull (67-72) by three shots.
Olympic gold medallist Lydia Ko (71-70) and the 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion, Ashleigh Buhai (72-69) were tied fourth alongside Mao Saigo of Japan, South Africa’s Cassandra Alexander and Taipei’s Chien Pei-yun. PTI Cor AM AM AM
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