Indian golfer Aditi Ashok’s putter did not function well as she dropped to tied-61st after carding a 3-over 74 in the second round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic here.
Yet despite a disappointing second round, Aditi, who shot a 2-under 69 on the opening day, made the cut on the line to maintain her streak of made cuts in stroke play events to four in a row. She has two Top-10s this season.
Aditi is now 1-over and has one more round to make up. The 25-year-old who needed just 27 putts on the first day had 32 on the second day and that seemed to make the big difference in her score.
Aditi started her second round strongly with a birdie on 10th but back-to-back bogeys on 11th and 12th saw her fall to 1-over. A birdie on par-3 17th meant she turned in even par for the day and was still 2-under for the tournament after her first round 69.
On the second nine, the front side of the Bay Course at Seaview, Aditi bogeyed first, fifth and sixth and fell to 3-over for the day and 1-over for the tournament.
First-round leader Dani Holmqvist maintained her pace and followed up her first-round 64 with a second-round 67.
The 35-year-old holds the solo lead at 11-under overall and is seeking her first win in nine seasons on the LPGA Tour.
If she wins, she will join Annika Sorenstam and Anna Nordqvist as the third Swede to win the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
In the first round, she shot the lowest 18-hole score of her career. After a bogey-free first day, she birdied the third and the fifth before making her first bogey in 23 holes on the par-4 6th. With a birdie on the third, she went out in 2-under 35 and again had a 2-under 34 on back nine.
Five-time LPGA Tour champion Korean golfer Hyo Joo Kim sits in solo second after posting 67-65.
Last season’s AIG Women’s Open champion Ashleigh Buhai also shot a second-round 65 to take the solo third position. Buhai had one bogey and seven birdies.
Chiara Noja, who has a sponsor invite and is making her LPGA debut, is T-4. She had rounds of 68-67. She shares fourth place with the 2022 Rookie of the Year Atthaya Thitikul and 2023 rookie Yan Liu, as well as Jenny Shin and Matilda Castren.
The group at fourth includes Tour veteran Brianna Do, who tied the low-round of the week with a 7-under 64 and jumped from T53 on the leaderboard to T4.
Seventy-three players made the cut at +1, including defending champion Brooke Henderson.
Other Indians in action
Meanwhile, the Indian trio of Nishtha Madan, Pranavi Urs, and Nikita Arjun endured a rough outing in the final round of the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship on the Epson Tour, the second rung Tour to the LPGA in the United States.
While the US-based Nishtha finished with two bogeys in the last three holes and ended with an even par 72 that saw her finish tied 38th, Pranavi and Nikita had a nightmarish back nine.
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