RIO 2016: Aditi Ashok fires a brilliant 68 in round 1

The youngest golfer in RIO defied her age to cement her place in the top contenders at Rio. Ashok made an 8-footer at the 18th hole to keep her sheet clean with a fine 68.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand finished 1st with an excellent 65 to gain a one-shot lead over Koreans Inbee Park and Seiyoung Kim.

After making par at the first hole, a par-5, Aditi gained a shot at the par-4 second hole. She carried that advantage through to the end of the front nine, making seven consecutive pars.

The back nine has been a tricky challenge for golfers, but Aditi would have none of that. She made birdies at the 10th and 14th holes to inch up the leaderboard. Aditi ended the day with four straight pars to complete her round.

“I’ve played the Youth Olympics, as well. I’ve kind of had that experience of playing that and it made me want to play in the Olympics as well. This is my rookie year,” reminded Aditi. “Getting the experience and playing for India and trying to win a medal for my country doesn’t get better than that.

“It would be huge for women’s golf in India, because we don’t have that many girls playing and this will definitely boost the popularity of the game in India and that’s what we need. So I hope I can do that,” added a confident Aditi.

Aditi’s stats were off the charts – 100% driving accuracy, 83% greens in regulation and 100% on scrambling underlining her solid performance on the first day of Olympic golf.