Aditi Ashok of India wins Ladies British Stroke Play

LEEDS, England — Aditi Ashok, 17 years old from Bangalore, India, cruised to a five-stroke victory in the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke-Play Championship at Moortown Golf Club, Leeds. She is one of the youngest ever winners of this title and this would rank as the biggest win so far for the talented Indian girl who has already won the St. Rule Trophy over the St. Andrews Old and New Courses this year and finished second in the European Women's Amateur Championship. A place at an American college next year is her ambition and she looks certain to win tournaments on the US college circuit. After that .. who knows? She has the all-round game to become a successful tour pro, but all that is in the future. For the moment, Aditi and her parents who travel round the world with her to tournaments, deserve to bask in the glory of this emphatic win. Ashok shot rounds of 71, 73, 70 and 71 over a tough, par 74 Yorkshire moorland course. Under no pressure after establishing a four-stroke lead over the first 54 holes, Aditi could afford to relax a bit and have fun on the final circit which she did with one eagle (at the 16th), five birdies and four bogeys in halves of 37-34. Olivia Mehaffey (Royal Co Down Ladies), already a GB and I international at the age of 17 dropped only one shot in her final round - at the 14th, but had birdies a the second, ninth, 12th and 16th in halves of 36 and 35. Sweden's Linn Andersson from Barseback, finished third on 294, four strokes behind Mehaffey. Ireland's Jessica Ross from Donaghadee shot the low round of the tournament a six-under-par 68 which helped her to finish joint third on 295 alongside defending champion Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough). "That's the lowest score of my life," said Jessica who last year finished 21st in this championship. "I've been having a steady season but the big difference today was that more putts dropped! I just took a shot at a time and tried not to focus too much on the score." Jessica started her round by birdieing the first and second followed by another at the seventh. She had a bogey at the 12th but bounced back with an eagle at 16 and a final birdie at 17.