Tag: Aditi Ashok

‘It’s been a long few years’: Australia’s Hannah Green survives three-way playoff to win third LPGA title at JM Eagle LA Championship

Hannah Green couldn’t hold back the emotion after clinching her first LPGA title in nearly four years.

LOS ANGELES – Hannah Green couldn’t hold back the emotion after clinching her first LPGA title in nearly four years. After finishing inside the top three the past two years at Wilshire Country Club, the steady and oft-stoic Aussie won a three-way playoff at the JM Eagle LA Championship.

“It’s been a long few years,” said Green, who parred the first 14 holes on Sunday but birdied the closing par-3 18th to finish at 9-under 275 alongside Aditi Ashok and Xiyu “Janet” Lin.

At one point late in the day, the crowded LA Championship leaderboard featured five players tied at 8 under.

American Cheyenne Knight looked primed to make a run for her second LPGA title until her second shot into the par-5 15th sailed out of bounds, resulting in a double-bogey seven. China’s Ruoning Lin held the outright lead until bogeys on the 17th and 18th derailed her bid.

The three players who found their way into the playoff did so with gutsy birdies on the closing par-3 18th. Lin actually birdied the last two in regulation.

In overtime, India’s Ashok suffered a hard lip-out from 15 feet on the 156-yard 18th, the first playoff hole. Lin then drained a 12-footer for birdie to put the pressure on Green, who hit an 8-iron to 4 feet and then converted to push it to a second hole.

After Lin found the bunker on her tee shot, Green needed only to two-putt from 25 feet to become the seventh Australian in LPGA history to earn at least three titles, joining Katherine Kirk (3), Wendy Doolan (3), Minjee Lee (8), Rachel Hetherington (8), Jan Stephenson (16) and Karrie Webb (41).

Now in her sixth season on the LPGA, Green broke through in 2019 at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Hazeltine and followed it with a second title that year at the Portland Classic. She’s a former Karrie Webb Scholarship winner, like fellow major champion Minjee Lee and recent LPGA winner Grace Kim.

Green earned $450,000 at Wilshire, bringing her career earnings total to $3,983,874.

“I said to my team and my caddie, I feel like once I get over the hurdle of having my third win that that will just open doors because I was really nervous today,” said Green.

“I hadn’t been in that position for quite some time to be especially in a playoff to win a tournament. So when I holed that 4-footer, I felt like I was literally shaking like crazy and you could see it visually. But I don’t really know. Maybe I’ll have a look at the footage.”

After missing the cut last week at the Chevron – Green missed the cut before all three of her victories – she spoke with LPGA sports psychologist Julie Aamto to get a fresh perspective and they talked about her post-shot routine.

Green had come to realize she when she hits a bad shot, she often holds onto that club until she gets to the ball. When she hits a good shot, Green typically gives her caddie the club back right away.

“Golf can be really frustrating,” said Green, “and sometimes showing emotion is a good thing, but just making sure that it doesn’t get too deep and affect your next shot.”

Ashok worked on building swing speed in the offseason and said the added distance helped her reach more par 5s in two this week. A four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, Ashok began 2023 finishing 1-3-2 in her first three starts on the LET.

“I’ve never played in this position on the LPGA,” said Ashok, “so to be near the lead on the first day, kind of stay there the whole tournament. The competition is just so deep out here. Ten people have a good tournament but only one can win. I’m happy with the way I played.”

World No. 1 Nelly Korda played the weekend with sister Jessica’s caddie after her regular looper, Jason McDede, rushed home to Florida Saturday morning after wife Caroline Masson gave birth to their first child, a son.

“It was very unexpected,” said Nelly, “but they’re both doing really well, both healthy, and Jason is back home with the baby. Yeah, I can’t wait to meet him. Auntie Nelly.”

Masson, 33, has competed on the LPGA the past 10 years, winning the 2016 Manulife LPGA Classic. She has represented Europe in the Solheim Cup on four different occasions.

Jessica’s regular caddie, Kyle Morrison, will be on the bag for Nelly at next week’s International Crown team event at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Nelly took a share of sixth at Wilshire.

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Watch: Aditi Ashok jars it from the fairway for eagle at LPGA’s JM Eagle LA Championship

Ashok said on Thursday that she’s been working with a new putter in her bag this week. But who needs to putt when you can do this?

There’s making an eagle. There’s holing out for an eagle. And then there’s what Aditi Ashok did Friday in Los Angeles.

Playing the back nine first during her second round of the 2023 JM Eagle LA Championship, Ashok faced a third shot on the par-5 15th hole at Wilshire Country Club.

Aiming for a front pin, she had to carry a stream that fronts the green but dialed in the distance perfectly as the ball flew into the cup on the fly.

And let’s give Golf Channel some credit for the camera angle, too. This is fun to watch from the overhead view.

Ashok said on Thursday that she’s been working with a new putter in her bag this week, trying to overcome some recent issues.

“I think the last three weeks, I couldn’t lean on my putting as much,” she said. “It’s a similar blade. It’s just much lighter. It was too heavy for me, and I ended up leaving a bunch of them short. I have a lighter one at home, but it’s in India, so I had to go to Callaway and they made me the same Odyssey putter that I had, just lighter, so that’s the only difference.”

But knocking it right in the hole takes any putting issues off the table.

Ashok’s eagle came on the heels of back-to-back birdies. That’s right, she went 4 under over three holes to get to 9 under and grabbed the solo lead by three shots. The 25-year-old is seeking her first LPGA title.

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Meet some of the longest-standing and successful player/caddie duos on the LPGA

Here’s a list of players and caddies who have found a good rhythm and seem to be in it for the long haul.

There’s turnover every season when it comes to player-caddie partnerships on the LPGA, particularly at the start of the year. World No. 1 Lydia Ko has changed caddies regularly throughout her career, including this season, despite having an enormously strong 2022.

Minjee Lee, who won a couple majors in the past two years, will begin 2023 with a new looper after enjoying much success with veteran Jason Gilroyed.

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Plenty more players have made changes, but there are a number who have stood the test of time. While not by any means exhaustive, here’s a list of players and caddies who have found a good rhythm and seem to be in it for the long haul:

India’s Aditi Ashok, already a winner in 2023, opens with a 29 to jump two ahead of Lydia Ko at Saudi Ladies International

A four-time winner on the LET, Ashok holed out for eagle from the bunker on the par-5 18th as she made the turn.

India’s Aditi Ashok has already established herself as one of the hottest players in golf this season. After opening the Ladies European Tour season with a victory at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, Ashok finished third the next week in Morocco and now leads the Aramco Saudi Ladies International by two strokes.

Ashok’s head-turning back nine (her front nine) at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club included five birdies and an eagle. She followed that opening 29 with a 37 on a windy afternoon to shoot 66 and take the lead over World No. 1 Lydia Ko at 13 under par.

Ko followed her opening 64 with a 69 and sits tied with American Lilia Vu (66) at 11 under.

“I think it was just whenever I stepped to the ball, I just knew the ball was going in,” said Ashok of her clinic on the greens early one. “Just one of those days where everything works in your favor.”

A four-time winner on the LET, Ashok holed out for eagle from the bunker on the par-5 18th as she made the turn.

As for this impressive early-year form, Ashok said she worked on her driving quite a bit in the offseason, trying to increase her swing speed. She finished last season 99th on the LPGA’s CME points list. The top 100 keep their cards.

“Just went to the gym a lot,” she said. “I guess after last year, I traveled so much I lost some weight, so I was trying to gain that weight back.

“I’m nowhere near what I want to be. It’s a work in progress.”

Ko, who is playing in her first event as a newlywed, said the wind picked up so much that couldn’t widen her stance enough to stabilize her putter.

“I think on 16 I ended up making the putt,” she said, “but hit it so far off the middle of the club face there is probably no like control in that area. It’s just one of those days that you know it’s going to be tough. It’s tough for everyone.”

The Saudi Ladies International, a Ladies European Tour-sanctioned event, features 15 of the top 30 players in the Rolex Rankings. The $5 million prize fund now matches that of the men’s event in Saudi. It’s the largest purse in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship ($7 million).

The LET’s Saudi-backed events, which total six in 2023, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.

Former No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul tumbled down the board after a second-round 72 while Lexi Thompson rebounded with a 68 to move into a share of 22nd.

Hannah Green, Linn Grant, Gabriela Ruffels, Anne van Dam, Jeongeun Lee6 and Meghan MacLaren were among those who missed the cut.

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