Aditi Ashok will equal Anirban Lahiri‘s record of participating in 16 Majors — the most by any Indian — when she tees off in the first round of the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage on Thursday.
Aditi, who turned 23 this week, is already in her fifth year on the Ladies PGA Tour. Besides, she has won three times on the Ladies European Tour.
While women have five Majors as against four for men, Aditi has played at least one Major each year since she turned pro in 2016 and she became an LPGA member only in 2017. She has also made the cut at least once in each of the five Majors.
“I had to play my way in (into the ANA Inspiration) as I hadn’t played enough events last year. I’m excited to be back playing week after week and I feel like I’ve been playing well the last few weeks,” Aditi said.
“Hopefully I can make this major count and capitalise on the fact that I’ve played the course four times (once at Q-School and three Majors). I am definitely trying to have a top finish at a Major and not just make it to the weekend,” she said.
This year, Aditi has played three LPGA events and made the cut in all of them but has had only middling results. Her driving and hitting have been fine, as she found a good number of fairways and greens, but putting has been a concern.
She finished tied 44th at Kia Classic and three weeks before that she was tied 23rd at Drive On Championships.
While she made the cut in all three events, she failed to break 70 in each of the 12 rounds, though she did no worse than 74 in any. But she did take a lot of putts like 35 on first day at Kia.
“Putting was not my best (at Kia Classic) but it’s probably the change from Bermuda to Poa. Next (at ANA) I will probably work on short game and putting as that tends to help during majors,” Aditi said. The last ANA was in September, the only time it has been played in fall in the tournament’s history.