Aditi Ashok wins Spanish Open, ends season with career's fifth LET title

India's ace golfer Aditi Ashok ended with the title at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana or the Spanish Open, which is the year-ending tournament on the Ladies European Tour. She lifted the trophy with a two-shot victory over Anne Van Dam, capturing her second win at the season-ending tournament.

 

 

 

 

Ashok won the opening tournament of the LET season at the Kenya Open and has now won the closing tournament, the Spanish Open.

 

The Indian golfer carded a 17-under 271 (69-68-68-66) to win the golf event ahead of Netherlands’ Anne Van Dam, who carded 15-under and Spain’s Ana Pelaez Trivino, who shot 13-under.

 

Speaking via SkySports, the Indian golfer said, "It started out slow, I was missing a lot of birdies for the first six to eight holes. I hit it close on seven, after that I felt like I still had a chance. Initially, it felt like I was two shots away the whole time. I'm glad it picked up on the back nine."

 

Anne van Dam of Netherlands gave her tough competition, but eventually, Aditi Ashok edged her out by two shots. "It was a great battle," she continued. "Anne, when she's playing good, she can blow the field away and win by five to 10 shots. I knew I had to not stop making birdies and to keep trying. Her par when she hit the trees on 15 and my long putt, that switched the momentum a little bit. She is a great player and kept me honest out there."

 

 

Aditi Ashok had also won the season-opening Kenya Ladies Open earlier this year. It was Aditi Ashok’s first LET title since winning the 2017 Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

 

Aditi Ashok turned pro in 2016 and won the Women’s India Open to become the first Indian to win a LET golf title. She also won the Qatar Open later that year.

 

In 2021, Aditi Ashok narrowly missed out on becoming the first Indian golfer to win an Olympic medal after finishing fourth at Tokyo 2020. However, Aditi Ashok became the first Indian woman to win a golf medal at the Asian Games with a silver at Hangzhou 2023.

 

 

Ashok on the other hand, finished third in the title race. Cheenglab has won both the race and the Rookie of the Year title in the same season of the LET.

 

Aditi Ashok wraps up a rather successful season in which she finished second in the Saudi Ladies International, third in the Lalla Meryem Cup and claimed two victories.