Bengaluru, August 7: After agonisingly coming close to winning India a medal at Tokyo 2020, India's promising golfer Aditi Ashok said she has so regrets after having given her best.
Going into the final round Kasumigaseki Country Golf Club, Aditi was in sole second and had raised visions of a maiden medal in the sport.
On a day when the play was halted for a brief while due to tropical storm, the 23-year-old ended two strokes off the pace with a total of 15-under 269, which was just one stroke below the medal bracket.
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In the final round, she managed a 3-under 68.
America's world No.1 and overnight leader 1 Nelly Korda clinched the yellow metal medal with a 2-under 69 that left her 17-under overall and a shot ahead of Japan's Mone Inami (65) and New Zealand's Lydia Ko (65).
Inami and Ko competed in a play-off to decide the silver and bronze medal winners in which the former emerged triumphant.
Aditi's fourth-place finish was a big improvement from her tied 41st position at Rio 2016 Olympics.
Interestingly Aditi was one of the only three players in the field who had all three rounds in the 60s with 67-66-68-68 for a total of 269.
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Late on Friday there was talk of a tropical storm which might mean no play on Saturday and push the action to Sunday. The organisers found a way with a 6.30 am early start on Saturday, but then there was threat of lightning with the final group on 17th hole.
Luckily little over half an hour later, weather cleared for a while and play resumed for the medals to be decided.
This birdie showed us how @aditigolf - the world no. 200 went toe-to-toe with the champions till the last shot and finished fourth. 🙌🙌🙌#Tokyo2020 | #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion pic.twitter.com/Ga9G6arg3E
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 7, 2021
If there had been no play, Aditi would have got a silver medal behind Korda on the basis of three rounds.
"I think today I didn't really drive the ball very good and then it's hard to get birdie putts or hit greens when you're not in the fairway. So, yeah, that was definitely the hardest part to make a score today," Aditi said about her final-round play.
Talking of her par on the 15th which Ko birdied, Aditi said, "I mean 15th was okay, it was nothing, I was just scrambling, I was in between clubs so I hit one more and it went over.
"But I don't think it was that bad. I still made a par, so it's fine. I was just missing so many fairways. So that was what was bad today, kind of put me out of position so I couldn't get close to the flag."
I am so proud of @aditigolf and what she has done. I am also disappointed she finished 4th.
— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) August 7, 2021
And then, I am thinking, if this was a major on @LPGA, I'd be over the moon with a top-5 finish!#Olympics really skews expectations. But the fact remains, #AditiAshok is a superstar. pic.twitter.com/PTTr7XyMD4
Her putting was outstanding throughout the week, yet she had narrow misses on the 17th and 18th.
"Yeah, 17th was perfect. I hit it exactly the speed I wanted, the line I wanted. Maybe because I made too many through the four rounds, golfing gods were like, okay, we're not going to give her this one.
"But no, I just tried my best. Even on the last hole, although it was really out of range (25 feet), it was almost a long putt, but I still tried to give it a chance. So yeah, I think I gave it my best attempt," Aditi added.