Teenager Aditi Ashok stayed on course with another tidy round despite a late bogey on her 17th hole at the end of the second round of the Ladies European Tour's Lalla Aicha Tour School Final Qualifying here today.
Aditi, 17, added a three-under 69 after a first round 68 to bring her to seven-under 137 and she was tied fifth, the same place as she was at the end of the first round.
Aditi, who has been making waves in amateur golf in India and Asia, while also being noticed in professional circles, started on the tenth and began with a birdie to make it clear that she is neither awed by the occasion or that her first round of 68 was a flash in the pan. She added birdies on 12th and 15th to go to three-under through six holes.
A bogey on 16th was quickly made up for with a birdie on 18th as she turned in three-under 33 at Amelkis golf course. Coming onto the second stretch, the front nine of the course, Aditi dropped a shot on par-5 second. She quickly recovered with back-to-back birdies on third and fourth and she stayed four-under through 15 holes in second round.
That's when Aditi had another lapse and dropped a shot on the seventh, her 16th hole of the day. She closed with two pars for a card of 69.
Aditi trails five shots behind leader Karolin Lampert (67-65) as she raced ahead to 12-under. Daisy Nielsen (68-66) was tied second with Justine Dreher (68-66), who were both at 10-under.
Swiss player Caroline Rominger (67-68) was nine-under at fourth place. Aditi and seven others including English golfer of Indian origin Kiran Matharu (68-69) were tied sixth. The other Indian in the field, Neha Tripathi (76-73) showed improvement on her first round, but is lying tied 91st at five-over.
Aditi's track record in 2015 has been fabulous and includes wins at the 2015 St. Rule Trophy and Ladies British Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship besides two wins in domestic professional events in India.
The event which began yesterday will conclude on Tuesday. There are 115 players from 35 countries in the field competing for Membership on the 2016 Ladies European Tour. Each player will compete on the two courses alternately for the first four rounds, followed by a cut to the top 60 players and ties after 72 holes before the final round (18 holes) is played at Samanah Country Club.
