India’s Aditi Ashok carded a disappointing 3-over 74 in the opening round to be Tied-61 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the second of the five Majors for women.
Aditi, who has moved into Top-15 of the Race to CME Globe standings with a series of Top-10 finishes this season, shot 3-over 74 at the challenging and difficult Baltusrol’s Par-71 Lower Course.
Aditi, who was lying outside the top 60, as only 16 players shot under par rounds and another 16 getting even par 71.
Leading the field was Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa who made a two-putt birdie on the final hole in fading daylight for a 5-under 66. Two-time major winner Brooke Henderson of Canada and Ruoning Yin and Xiyi Lin of China were a shot back in the field of 156 players.
Among those hit by the tough conditions were the second-ranked Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson, who each shot 76.
Aditi, playing her 24th Major – a record for any Indian male or female, started from the tenth and immediately dropped a shot on 11th. Another bogey followed on Par-5 17th but she ended the back nine of the difficult course with her first birdie of the day on 18th.
On the second nine, she suffered back-to-back bogeys on first and second but then closed with seven pars.
Wichanee Meechair of Thailand was alone at 68. Leona Maguire of Ireland, the winner last week, was at 69 with Ayaka Furue and Yuka Saso of Japan, Jenny Shin of South Korea, Celine Borge of Norway and Esther Henseleit of Germany.
Rose Zhang, the two-time NCAA individual champion at Stanford who became the first player in 72 years to win an LPGA Tour event in her pro debut this month at nearby Liberty National, opened with a 70.
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