Aditi Ashok rested as much as possible after the 2021 season, putting down the clubs for what her father and caddie said felt like two months. As she embarked on preparing for 2022, her luggage and golf bag were delayed to Fort Lauderdale from India, but Ashok didn’t let a last-minute inconvenience stop her in the first full-field event of 2022. Ashok came out of the gate firing with a first-round 66 in the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio with just one bogey on No. 18 after hitting 17-straight greens in regulation.
“I was playing good to the end of last year but then with couple months off, I didn't know where my game was at, so it was good to kind of pick up where I left off with a lot of good shots,” said Ashok. “Seventeen greens in a row was really good for me. I couldn't reach 18 actually, but I'm still happy with the way I hit it today. I putted really well, but could have hit it a lot better and maybe given myself a few more birdie chances. But 66 is a great day for me.”
Ashok said she added a new club to the bag, a Callaway 5-hybrid, and is feeling more comfortable within her game. “Just trying to work on being better with the longer clubs,” said Ashok. “I've added a hybrid in my bag. I used to have just two hybrids, now three hybrids and I think that's helping longer approaches.”
Though she finished in a tie for 48th for Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club a year ago, Ashok missed the cut in Boca Raton in 2020. But she’s coming off one of the best seasons of her career, which included a career awakening at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics last August that inspired a nation with a fourth-place finish. She’s using those experiences of being in contention to grow even more this year.
“Obviously the goal for me is to get in those positions much more often because I haven't actually been in that position a lot,” said Ashok. “After the Olympics, I had like three top 10s, so it has been a goal and I'm hoping for more of that this year.”
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