Dubai, Nov 5
Indian women quartet of Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar, Tvesa Malik and Astha Madan carded a matching 3-over 75 in the opening round to lie tied-29 at the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic golf tournament here.While Aditi and Diksha were already in the field, Tvesa and Astha were late entrants into the unique tournament that has only 56 players. Both Tvesa and Astha were in the reserve list.The world’s first day-night Tour event has an interesting format which sees the professionals pair up with a team of amateurs and play continues till late into the evening under the lights with the Dubai skyline in the background. The players began in two waves – morning and evening. Aditi and Diksha were in the morning action.Aditi, a three-time Ladies European Tour winner, had two birdies early on and was even perched on top for a brief period. Later she fell and ended at 3-over 75, as did Diksha, the only other Indian to have won on the LET.In the evening wave, Tvesa and Astha also carded similar scores.On the second day, Tvesa and Diksha will tee off in the “Daylight Wave” while Aditi and Astha will go out in the “Moonlight Wave”. Among others in fray, Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, whose first LET win came in India at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, made headlines after a bogey-free round of 7-under 65, which included a hole-in-one.It gave her a two-shot first round lead from morning leader Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck (67) and fellow Solheim Cup player, Celine Boutier (67) of France.Former world no. 1 Lydia Ko shot a 4-under 68 with an eagle, six birdies and four bogeys. Defending champion Nuria Iturrioz continued her love-affair with Dubai, recording a solid first round of 3-under 69.The LET earlier withdrew Annabel Dimmock, Catriona Matthew and Ursula Wikström after they tested positive for COVID-19. They were tested upon arrival into Dubai on Monday morning and will now remain in self-isolation for a minimum of 14 days in accordance with the mandatory health authority and medical professional guidelines.
