Golf: Three Indians ready to create history at LPGA event

The Ladies Scottish Open is a premier tournament on the Ladies European Tour.

India’s Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar and Tvesa Malik are set to create history on Thursday as they will play in the Ladies Scottish Open, which has been authorized as an LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) event since 2017.

It will be the first time that three Indian female golfers will be playing together at an LPGA event. The Ladies Scottish Open began in 1986 and it is a premier tournament on the Ladies European Tour.

The World No.2 Danielle Kang will be the main attraction at the tournament along with World No. 8 Minjee Lee. Dagar and Malik reached the UK on Friday and then travelled to Edinburgh on Monday for an LPGA event. Aditi Ashok also arrived there on Monday with her mother.

Diksha has been performing really well since she turned professional last year. She won the Women’s South African Open in 2019, which is also a part of the Ladies European Tour.

She became the youngest Indian female golfer to win a Ladies European Tour title at the age of 18, as she defeated South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, who has won nine Ladies European Tour crowns in her career so far.

Diksha will play against Stephanie Kyriacou and Yu Liu early on, while Aditi will face off against stars Carly Booth and Pace. Tvesa will take on Yealimi Noh and Emily Kristine Pedersen.

The tournament will be played behind close doors on the same course as the men’s Scottish Open due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With this event, a top-level professional women’s golf tournament is returning to Scotland for the first time since the 2019 Solheim Cup. It also marks the return of the Ladies European Tour.

In 2019, Mi Jung Hur came out on top with six birdies in her final nine holes, to earn her first victory since 2014 and set the 72-hole tournament record at –20 in her four-stroke win. While Hur will not defend this week, past champions Ariya Jutanugarn (2018) and Mi Hyang Lee (2017) have made the trip to The Renaissance Club, as have 2019 major champions Hannah Green (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) and Hinako Shibuno (AIG Women’s Open).

The 144-player field also includes 15 of the top 20 in the Race to Costa del Sol competing for the $1.5m purse, as well as Rose Ladies Series Order of Merit winner Charley Hull.