Aditi jumps to T-10 at Dubai Ladies Masters

Dubai, December 7 

Aditi Ashok played a solid 4-under 68 to move up from tied-28th to tied-10th in the Omega Dubai Ladies Classic at Emirates Golf Club here today.

Aditi, who has already won the Fatima Bint Mubarak title in Abu Dhabi, is seeking a Desert Double and is now 5-under 139 and five shots behind the leader Anne Van Dam (69-65) of the Netherlands.

What was particularly pleasing for Aditi was that it was a bogey free round with two birdies on either side of the turn. She had birdies on second and third and then 17th and 18th. In between she did miss a few birdies, but also saved some pars nicely.

Currently 10th in the LET Order of Merit despite only a handful of starts --- six so far --- Aditi can enter the top three with a good finish this week.

Aditi was second last year when she was a rookie and had emerged as the Rookie of the Year.

Meanwhile, a change of putter worked wonders for long-hitting Anne Van Dam, who blitzed the front nine to move atop the leaderboard.

Starting the second round two shots off the pace, the 22-year-old Dutch star fired a flawless 7-under 65 to reach 10-under for the tournament, a good two shots ahead of Scotland’s Kelsey MacDonald.

England’s Georgia Hall, placed 14th overnight, carded a sparkling 67 to join Australia’s Celina Yuan and Thidapa Suwannapura in third place at seven-under as overnight leader Supamas Sangchan slipped to tied-sixth after returning a 71. — PTI