Indian golfer Aditi Ashok played a bogey-free three-under 70 in the first round of the Oates Vic Open to be Tied-13th here today.
At the top, 53-year-old Dame Laura Davies turned the clock back with a brilliant eight-under 65 to take a two-shot lead.
Aditi had three birdies on two of the five par-5s at the Creek Course, besides another one on par-4 12th hole. While a few of the putts just slid by, the good news was there were bogeys on the card.
The other two Indians in the field are Amandeep Drall, who with five birdies, a bogey and a double bogey carded two-under 71 to be Tied-22nd, while Vani Kapoor (72) was Tied-35th.
Aditi is coming off a Tied-sixth finish at the Gold Coast Challenge, which was her eighth Top-10 in nine previous starts going back to last season. She will be hoping to stay on the streak and do better.
Davies, meanwhile, bounced back from undoubtedly the worst year of her impressive 32-year career to tie the course record and take a two-stroke lead.
The Englishwoman was the first player to tee off this morning at 7am and wasted no time jumping out of the blocks quickly, making four birdies on her front-nine to make the turn in four-under 33. She then added four-under 33 on back nine to finish at 65.
In 2016, Davies, hit by a leg injury, made just eight cuts out of the 28 events she contested on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tours.
Tied for the second place at six-under is an impressive group of players including Western Australian Whitney Hillier, and European Solheim Cup stars Melissa Reid and Sandra Gal, all of whom played this morning on the slightly more forgiving Creek Course.
Following completion of the second round the field will be cut to 60 professionals and ties, with a further cut after 54 holes, with the leading 35 players from both the men’s and the women’s competition competing in Sunday’s final round.
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