Aditi not too happy despite error-free round

Aditi Ashok of India plays a shot on the 10th fairway during the second round of the Dubai Ladies Classic golf tournament in Dubai on Thursday.

At 19, you are normally trying to figure out the thing called life but then for Aditi Ashok, it has been anything but that.

Over the past two years, the Indian prodigy has lit up the Ladies European Tour (LET) like no other. The Indian already has three wins on the LET, played 32 tournaments so far and had 10 top 10 finishes.

Aditi was the LET Rookie of the Year last season and also finished runner-up in the Order of Merit last year.

And she came into the Omega Dubai Ladies Classic on the back of a victory at the Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi last month.

Despite carding a bogey-free round at the Majlis Course of the Emirates Golf Club and vault 19 places from tied 29th to tied 10th, the Bangalore ace was not too happy.

Starting the day on one-under, Aditi, winner of the Hero Women's Indian Open and the Qatar Ladies Open last year, made considerable gains with her four birdies giving her four-under 68 and an overall five-under 139, five shots behind leader Anne van Dam of The Netherlands.

Teeing off from 10, Aditi completed her front nine with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th. And she kept it clean on her back nine as well with two birdies on the trot - on the third and fourth.

Aditi sets quite lofty standards and she felt that she couldn't have given much more on the day.

"Yeah, I felt like I didn't putt as good, even yesterday (Wednesday) and today (Thursday). Today (Thursday) obviously, morning group, I didn't have that much wind. So I had a lot of birdie putts, but I only managed to make four, so that's why I'm frustrated," said Aditi.

Aditi could have made it a hat-trick of victories last year after wins in the Qatar Ladies Open and the Hero Women's Indian Open but she went on to finish tied third in Dubai.

Aditi had reason to feel miffed because the Majlis Course is right up her alley and reminds her of her home course -the Karnataka Golf Association.

"It reminds me a lot of home because the weather is similar, the food is similar, so yeah, I'm enjoying it," she said.

Aditi felt that the greens here were a bit slower this year as compared to last time. "I feel they are a bit slower this year compared to the last time. When I played in 2014, it was really fast. So compared to that, I think it's slow this year, but it's still in great condition," Aditi said.

Aditi hopes that the first two days has helped her adapt and felt she can race up the ladder going into Friday.

"Tomorrow (Friday) is moving day, so I'm going to try to keep doing the same and hopefully the putts fall in," she said.

james@khaleejtimes.com