Neither the winds nor the misery abated for the golfers, yet they soldiered on with mixed luck at the 2024 AIG Women’s Open. Among the luckless ones was the Indian duo Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar, who exited at the halfway stage. At the top, World No. 1 Nelly Korda played a bogey free 68 and at 8-under she was three clear of defending champion Lilia Vu (69-70) and last year’s runner-up Charley Hull (67-72).
Just 26, Aditi, a veteran of sorts playing her 32nd Major, seemed to be handling the wind and the morning chill well as she teed in the second group. Nearer the end of the round, she ran into serious problems. Four-over after the first day, Aditi was even par through 14 holes and still at 4-over for the tournament.
At that point she was likely to make the cut. She had bogeyed the fourth, birdied fifth and ninth to turn in one-under par. On the back nine she dropped a shot on the 10th, but was still good for the cut. Then the wheels came off. On the Par-4 15th, she went into right rough and then into a pot bunker and had no option but to just come out and take her medicine.
Even that was not easy as she reached the green only in four where a disastrous three-putt awaited her for a triple bogey. Still seething, she dropped another shot on the par-4 16th. That made it 4-over in two holes and she finished with a second straight 76. Net results at 8-over for 36 holes, the lanky Indian had moved miles away from the cut.
Diksha’s scores on the leaderboard needed some correction on the first day. For a while she seemed too have played 4-over but then it came to light a scorer had erred and it was actually 5-over. There was no such scoring mistake on the second day as Diksha piled on too many bogeys in the middle of her round. Five-over at the start, she parred the first six holes and dropped four shots in the next six before parring the last six for a 76. Put alongside the first round 77, it was 9-over and again too far from the cut line.
Korda pushed aside her Olympic disappointment (T-22) earlier this month, as she added a 68 to the 68 she had compiled late last night.
Korda, who switched her putter before the AIG Women’s Open, moved 8-under with her twins 68s. That comfortably took her past Hull, who had taken the first round lead with a closing birdie for a stunning 5-under late on Thursday.
While Korda was bogey free with two birdies on either side of the Old course, Hull, who had six birdies against one bogey on the first day, had three each of birdies and bogeys in an even par 72. The 68 for Korda and 72 for Hull meant a four-shot swing for the American, who moved from a one-shot deficit to a three-shot lead.
Given the windy conditions where neither the clubs nor the ball seemed to be doing the players’ bidding, a bogey free round was indeed sensational.
Olympic champion Lydia Ko, more than 8 years removed from the second of her two Majors, promised a close weekend as she was 3-under and tied-4th with five others who had completed and at least two others, who were yet to finish.
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