Home hero Boutier leads Paris women’s golf event after day 1; Diksha, Aditi well placed

Late errors saw Diksha Dagar and Aditi Ashok slip up somewhat on the opening day of the women’s golf competition at the Paris Olympic Games on Wednesday. The left-handed Diksha was tied for seventh place on 1 under par 71 and Aditi in a share of 13th place on level par 72 at the Le Golf National course.

Frenchwoman Celine Boutier was the toast of the day as she led the 60-strong field with a 7 under par round of 65 that contained eight birdies and one dropped shot on a course that saw players around her trip up through the day. In one stretch on her back nine, Boutier reeled off three straight birdies much to the delight of the large number of spectators following her group.

The past Evian Championship winner was three shots ahead of South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai who fired a 4 under 68 to lead a group of four that included Lilia Vu of the US, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux and Mariajo Uribe of Colombia in shared third place on 2 under 70.

Both Indians were going well till almost the very end of their opening rounds. Aditi was amongst the early leaders having got to 2 under by the 13th hole, after which the birdies dried up. On the closing par-5 18th, she went into the water with her approach shot, the third, and then needed two putts for a double-bogey 7 that blotted her card. She had arrived in Paris only on Monday night.

“Today was not great because when I got here on Monday, I slept through the night probably because I was tired from the round and the travel,” Aditi said on olympics.com. “But then last night I was up from 1 am to like 4 am. So I have not figured it out yet. Hopefully, it gets better as the week goes on. Not at 100 percent but close enough.”

Tokyo golf medallist and world number one Nelly Korda of the US, the favourite this time as well, was alongside Aditi on even par 72 along with 10 others.

Till she got to the 17th hole, Diksha was the only one in the field of 60 not to have dropped a shot but gave away one stroke each on holes 17 and 18, first with an errant chip, and then with a three-putt finish on her closing hole.

Still, both are well placed in the no-cut event, one inside the top 10 and the second just one stroke adrift. With three days still to go at a testing venue that is littered with water bodies and thick rough just off the fairways, all bets are off.