Arjuna Awardee
Aditi Ashok
Aditi Ashok is one of the many Indian women golfers who have made a name for themselves over the last decade. Aditi was one of the 27 Arjuna awardees and the only golfer on the list. When she won the 2016 Hero Women’s Indian Open, the 22-year-old became the first Indian to win a Ladies European Tour title, and she also competed in the 2016 Olympics.
A Prodigy
Ashok, who has been in the spotlight since winning a professional event as a 13-year-old amateur, credits her parents for allowing her to try golf and grow a passion for the sport. “When I was five and a half years old, my parents and I both began learning golf at the same time. “While growing up, I was certainly one of the handfuls of girls playing in most tournaments, but I never thought of it as a sport for men, she remembers. It never bothered me most of the time as I enjoyed playing so much.”
Her Journey and Wins
Aditi Ashok is a well-known golfer even though she is just 22 years old. The Bengaluru golfer qualified for the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 2016 after starting the sport at the age of five.
At the age of 18, Aditi represented her country at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where she briefly regained the lead during the second round before finishing 41st behind gold medalist Inbee Park. Her big break came in November of that year, when she became the first Indian to win a LET Tour title at the Women’s Indian Open, gaining her front-page coverage.
She won the Qatar Ladies Open two weeks later and was named the LET Rookie of the Year. Aditi also secured a spot on the LPGA Tour, making her the first Indian woman to do so in 2017.
In November 2017, she won her third LET title in Abu Dhabi, and her results on both sides of the Atlantic have made the rest of the world take note of her golfing skills.
Aditi has won three times on the Ladies European Tour and now competes on the Ladies PGA, the world’s most successful and largest women’s golf tour.