Teenage Trailblazer

NEWLY CROWNED FATIMA BINT MUBARAK LADIES OPEN CHAMPION ADITI ASHOK HAS BROUGHT WOMEN’S GOLF TO THE FORE IN CRICKET CRAZY INDIA

- Kent Gray

THERE WAS SOMETHING STRANGELY POIGNANT ABOUT ADITI ASHOK nearly making a meal of the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open last month given her start in the game. It was over breakfast with her parents Gudlamani and Mash, on a hotel balcony perched above a driving range in her home city of Bangalore, that the Indian sensation was lured to a life on the links.

“We used to go for breakfast on weekends at a restaurant overlooking the driving range at the Karnataka Golf Association,” Ashok told the Golf Channel recently. “I remember asking my dad, `What is that? What are they doing?’ And my dad said, `Do you want to give it a try?’”

Did she ever. Ashok was five at the time and has been hooked ever since.

“They handed me a putter, because it was the easiest way to get started. I didn’t want to leave the putting green. I was there a couple hours, and when we left I wanted to come back because I wanted to know how the rest of the game worked.”