Aditi finishes third as Diksha secures another top-10 at Hulencourt Women's Open

Hulencourt, Belgium: It was a fine finish for the Indian duo of Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar, both of whom figured in the Top-10 at the Hulencourt Women’s Open on the Ladies European Tour.

Aditi Ashok produced another consistent performance to finish third after a final round of 70, while fellow Indian Diksha Dagar (75) had a tough final day but still claimed a share of seventh place as Carolina Chacarra captured the title in Belgium.

Aditi carded a final-round 2-under 70 to finish at 7-under for the tournament with rounds of 70-71-70-70. She remained in contention throughout the week thanks to remarkable consistency, ending five shots behind champion Carolina Chacarra, who closed with a bogey-free 4-under 68 to win at 12-under par.

In the final round, Aditi recorded five birdies on the third, fourth, 10th, 15th and 16th holes, while dropping shots on the sixth, seventh and 14th to secure her third-place finish. The Olympian was using this week’s event as preparation for The Amundi Evian Championship which takes place next week in France.

Diksha, who began the final day firmly in contention, slipped after a 3-over 75 but still finished tied for seventh at 2-under overall (68-72-71-75). Her round featured seven bogeys, but a birdie on the fourth and an eagle on the 10th helped limit the damage.

As all four Indians made the cut, Pranavi Urs produced one of the best rounds of the day, firing a superb 6-under 66 to climb into a tie for 18th at even par. Starting the day at 6-over, Pranavi surged up the leaderboard with eight birdies before late bogeys on the 17th and 18th denied her a top-10 finish.

Avani Prashanth ended the week tied for 42nd at 6-over after signing off with a 1-under 71, her only under-par round of the tournament. She made four birdies and three bogeys in the final round.

Chacarra, playing only her second event on the Ladies European Tour, completed rounds of 70-65-73-68 to finish three strokes clear of runner-up Kelsey Bennett, who finished at 9-under.

The Spanish rookie, sister of Eugenio Chacarra, said she focused on sticking to her process despite late nerves.

The victory moves Chacarra into second spot in the Rookie of the Year standings behind USA’s Anna Morgan and qualifies her for both the ISPS Handa Scottish Open and AIG Women’s Open.

It also caps off a magnificent month for the Chacarra family after her older brother, Eugenio, won back-to-back titles on the DP World Tour a few weeks ago at the KLM Open and Italian Open.

The Spaniard got the ball rolling on Sunday with a pinpoint birdie at the par-3 2nd and followed this up with another at the par-3 5th to leapfrog Bennett as the Aussie dropped a shot at the 4th.

On to the back-nine and Bennett dropped another shot at the 12th following a wayward tee shot which fell into the thick fescue at Hulencourt Golf Club. Chacarra would make her third birdie of the day after a world-class approach at the par-5 13th to give herself a three-shot cushion.

An exciting final few holes ensued as Bennett chipped in for birdie at the 16th to close the gap to one. But in the end Chacarra was too strong for the Australian as she carded another clutch birdie at the par-3 17th before two-putting on the final hole for par and a three-shot victory.

With the final round 73 (+1), Bennett, a winner at the Australian Women’s Classic earlier this year, recorded her second runner-up of the season after she finished one shot behind Anna Huang at the Lalla Meryem Cup in May.

Tags : Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar, Ladies European Tour, Golf, Pranavi Urs