Diksha-Aditi first Indian pair to finish in top four of LET rankings

Diksha Dagar and Aditi Ashok on Tuesday became the first Indian pair to finish in top four of the Ladies’ European Tour, but the latter’s win in the Andalucia Open de Espana also gave her the career-best 41st spot in world rankings.

Diksha and Aditi won a total of three LET titles this year, with the former’s title win coming at Czech Republic earlier this year.

While Aditi won the Andalucia Open de Espana along with another title win earlier this year, Diksha finished seventh in the event but was ranked third in the Race to Costa del Sol Ranking, the Order of Merit on LET.

Never before have two Indians finished in the Top-4 of the LET’s Order of Merit.

Aditi’s best on the Order of Merit was second in 2016, also her rookie year when she played 13 events and won twice.

In 2017, she was seventh despite playing only seven events, as Aditi had started playing on the LPGA too.

This year again, she played seven events on LET plus some like Evian, Women’s Open and Scottish Open, which were co-sanctioned with the LPGA.

Apart from two wins, Aditi also had two more top-10 finishes on the LET.

On the LPGA Tour, Aditi had five top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish in the JM Eagles Championship. She is still searching for her first win in the LPGA.

Her phenomenal showing included India’s first-ever medal in women’s golf at the Asian Games, where she was second after looking a lock-in for the gold after three rounds.

The year was sensational for Diksha too. In her career, which started in 2019, Diksha has a couple of wins and 12 top-10 finishes.

Of them, a win and nine other top-10s came in 2023 alone.

She played an incredible 27 events this season, a testimony to her fitness and the ability to take the load.

Aditi finished 41st on the LPGA and co-incidentally ended the phenomenal 2023 with a career-best 41st place.

Aditi, who has won two times, including at the Andalucia Open de Espana, has also finished in top-5 and top-10 multiple times on either side of the Atlantic.

She ended the year in fourth place on the LET and the LPGA in the United States of America.

Diksha also moved to 162nd on world rankings – her best was 156 earlier in the year – and was third on the Race to Costa Del Sol.

Between the two, they won three times – Aditi twice and Diksha once.

If Aditi started 2023 with a win in Kenya, Diksha maintained it with a win in the Czech Republic in the middle of the year in June before Aditi closed it with another win in Spain.

The two also collected 11 top-10s (nine by Diksha and two by Aditi) on the LET.

The LET’s Race to Costa del Sol title was decided at the final event in Spain, with Trichat Cheenglab battling alongside Celine Boutier, Diksha, Johanna Gustavsson, Alexandra Forsterling and Ana Pelaez Trivino for the No 1 spot at the end of 2023.

Cheenglab, despite her 40th-place finish in the season-ending event, grabbed the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol title and also Rookie of the Year honours.

Cheenglab became the sixth player to win both titles in the same season, following in the footsteps of Dame Laura Davies, Carlota Ciganda, Esther Henseleit, Atthaya Thitikul and Linn Grant.

Cheenglab clinched the title by accumulating 1,966.52 points from 24 events and ultimately finishing 90.64 points ahead of Boutier, who was second, with Dagar a further 50.77 points behind in third place.

Cheenglab, 28, decided to try to play on the LET after watching Thitikul win both titles in 2021. She came to Q-School in December 2022 and secured her full LET card with fifth place at the final qualifier.

Cheenglab secured her first top-10 finish of the season in the individual event at the Team Series and her form really kicked in over the summer months.

The Thai star was the runner-up at the Czech Ladies Open before finishing tied-5th at the La Sella Open, and a few weeks later, she captured her maiden LET title at the Big Green Egg Open.

Over the past couple of months, Cheenglab, who rose from 728 to 90th in the rankings, continued her consistency with a tied-6th finish in Hong Kong, a tied-4th finish in Riyadh and second place at the Mallorca Ladies Open.