India's newest golf sensation, Aditi Ashok: 5 things you should know

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Bengaluru has produced a number of golfers, with the sport recently finding traction in the country. Indian golfing sensation Anirban Lahiri has won the country several laurels at the world’s biggest golfing championships, and now a young teenager is taking the golfing world by storm.

Earlier this year, Aditi Ashok became the first Indian to win the Ladies British Amateur tournament, and she’s only 17 years old. At that age, she’s currently high on the World Amateur Golf Rankings, at 19^th position with an average of 1269.09.

Pro Indian golfer Sharmila Nicollet, in an interview with Sportskeeda, said Ashok was a player to "look out for”.

Here are 5 things you should know about the youngster:

1. She’s been representing India for 5 years

She may only be 17-years-old, but she’s already represented the country for longer than many Indian athletes! At an age where most children are in school, Ashok, at 12, was playing golf for Team India.

2. She won her first ever golf tournament at the age of 9!

Ashok was only 9 years of age when she played her first tournament; and as if that is not significant enough, that laurel came 4 years after she first started playing the sport – at the age of only 5 years old.

3. She’s an athlete of firsts:

Her achievement at the Ladies British Amateur tournament was not by any means her first first. Ashok is the sole Indian golfer to have played at the Asian Youth Games of 2013, and the Youth Olympics and Asian Games the following year.

Those were the earliest in a series of firsts for the teenager, who was the first Asian player to win the 2015 St. Rule Trophy and Lawson Trophy at the St Andrews Links this year.

The first Indian to Ladies British Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship 2015 – taking the Nicholls Trophy and Dinwiddy Trophy, she was also the first person from the country to win the 81st Singha Thailand Amateur 2015, held at the Panya Indra Golf Club in the capital, Bangkok.

She’s also been the first ever player from India to represent India at prestigious events such as the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters last year, and the Sime Darby LPGA 2015, held at the Kuala Lumpur Golf Club in Malaysia. She was also the first and only Indian amateur golfer to play the Sanya Ladies Open in China this year.

With all the events open to longtime professionals, Ashok put in performances that netted her top 40 finishes in the latter two.

4. She’s broken a number of records:

Equaled the women’s amateur course record of 8 under par on the New Course, St. Andrews Links in May 2015 and set a course record of 8 under par at Karnataka Golf Association, Bangalore in July 2015.

At the St. Andrews links, a teenaged Ashok equalled the women’s amateur record there this year!

She won her first ever professional Women’s Golf Association of India tournament at the age of 13 – and in doing so was the youngest ever player to take the title.

5. She has something special in common with her idols:

Ashok’s idols are two World No. 1s – Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods

Ashok, who juggles intensive training at the Bangalore Golf Club and the Karnataka Golf Association in her home city of Bengaluru, considers two former World No. 1 golfers her idols – Rory McIlroy, and the iconic Tiger Woods.

The Northern Irish and American golfers are perhaps especially idolised by Ashok considering they have both had immense success as amateurs; the two are among only three players in the history of the game to have won three majors by the age of 25 (the third is the legendary Jack Nicklaus, regarded by many as the greatest golfer of all time).

McIlroy first held the World No. 1 Amateur Golf Ranking in 2007 as a 17-year-old, the same age Ashok is now. Playing for Europe at the Ryder Cup in 2010, 2012 and 2014, McIlroy was part of the winning side on each occasion.

Woods began golfing at the age of 2, and at the age of 15, became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur champion. He won several awards the following year, among them several Amateur Player of the Year titles. He became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, a record he held until 2008.

Another special thing the three have in common? Each was introduced to golf by their fathers; Earl Woods and Gerry McIlroy are both talented golfers; McIlroy Senior even had a scratch handicap. Earl Woods, meanwhile, had a single-figure handicap, who was also very talented at other sports and, in fact, a pathbreaker – he was among the first ever African-American college baseball players at his university, Kansas State.

Ashok too was inspired by her father, who she counts as her biggest support system in her golfing career. Mr. Ashok also caddies for his daughter on occasion, accompanying her to every tournament.

Let’s hope the youngster can reach even greater laurels in her career!