Olympics 2021: Aditi Ashok impress on Day 1, Diksha Dagar playing catch-up

It's been a long, hot and draining day for these women out there.

Aditi had an almost perfect outing sans the closing hole and will look to carry forward this momentum tomorrow in Round 2. Diksha on the other hand would like to use today's experience and will hope to put a better round. Both are very talented golfers and we are excited to see them represent India at Olympics. Good luck ladies!

We thank you all for joining us today. Do comeback tomorrow as the excitement continues! This is Dheeraj, your golfing host on Sportskeeda.com signing off. Do stay tuned on Sportskeeda.com for our continuous live coverage of Indian campaign across disciplines at Olympics 2020.

A very happy looking Leaderboard for Indian Fans

Diksha Dagar's back 9 scorecard

Diksha is a very exciting young talent. I'm sure she & Aditi will exchange notes before Round 2 & Aditi will have a few words of advise & encouragement for her.

Ooh! just missed her par. Good try Diksha. She finishes her Round 1 at 5-over par Tied 56

Ooh! Good try. Lie wasn't all that great, ball was well settled in rough and stance wasn't too great either. A 12-footer par putt coming up

She finds the rough on left of the green. Can she save par with crisp an up & down? A par here will feel almost like a birdie!

Diksha's dad is carrying her bag. Her dad is an Armyman and a scratch golfer himself. We hope that she bounces back in next round.

The Argentinian Magdelena had forgettable last two holes. Doeble bogeys on 17th & 18th. Slips down to 57th

The youngest player in the round today (17yrs), the Slovenian Pia Babnik cards an even par scorecard. Well done.

Nice drive by Diksha. Well placed on the leftish fairway on 18th

She would want to find the left fairway off tee. The right fairway brings full length of water into play...

Looks like Diksha has a 5-6footer putt to save her par on 17th. Those particularly test your mental toughness..
She sinks it in. Definitely a good feeling when you execute a nice up & down for a par. Now to the 18th, easily the most difficult hole of the course.

Leaderboard (Partial)

Meanwhile Diksha settles for a par on 16th. Good tee shot down the left fairway on 17th. Around 100yard approach shot coming up on the shortest par 4 on the course.

Well, it is true that we usually see a lot more spin on the ball from men golfers as compared to women, but we've seen almost no spin today. I think greens being baked under hot sun may have something to do with it. Hard greens generally don't offer as much 'bite' as softer greens tend to.

Terrific bunker shot from Danielle Kang on 18th. Should sign off with a par.

Good tee shot by Diksha on par 3 16th. Nice setup for her first birdie of the day. Her putting has been a bit tentative today.

Danielle Kang just showed us why players are aiming left of the green away from the pin! She finds the green side bunker.

Check out the local rules as provided by the course:
https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/resOG2020-/pdf/OG2020-/GLF/OG2020-_GLF_C68B_GLF-------------------------------.pdf
Source: www.olympics.com

Diksha remains +4 thru 15. No birdies for her today. Can she get one on the next? 17th & 18th are tricky.

Diksha placed decently on 15th. She should make her par to remain 4-over par thru 15 holes

Looks like Carlota Ciganda (ESP) will at best do a par on 18th. That means Aditi Ashok will remain Tied 2nd overnight.

To recap: The format remains same for the Women's Golf at Olympics 2020. All 60 golfers play 72 holes and any ties for the top three are decided by sudden death tiebreak holes on the final day.

Diksha does well on par 5 15th. Solid par.

Back in the saddle. Some of you have requested for a recap of golf rules for Olympics 2020. Here you go..

I'll be back in 10min to take you thru Diksha's round. Refill your cuppas & come right back...

Lexi Thompson's caddie suffered a heat stroke and their team manager doubled up as her caddie. As per golf rules, a player can replace a caddie between holes (after completing the hole being played). Looks like she changed while the current was being played. More on this later as we get a clarity, probably late evening or before the round tomorrow.

Diksha goes 5 on 381y, par 4 13th. Now +4. "Occasion" jitters?

Wei-Ling in all sorts of trouble on 18th. Her approach shot found water. She finishes 18th with a bogey. -2 for the day, she started off with 5 birdies thru her opening 6 holes. Golf can be cruel...

Meanwhile, Diksha finds herself in a bit of bother on 381y par 4, 13th. Went into rough off the tee, found bunker on her second shot. On the green now, can she save par?

A fine 67 by Aditi to finish at T2. Her back 9 scorecard

Aargh!!!! Alas, she doesn't!
Nevertheless, what a fine round she's played. Kudos. She will look to build up on this momentum tomorrow. Her back 9 scorecard coming up

All eyes on Aditi...Nice chip...Can she close out the par on 18th...She's sunk those putts all day today...

Meanwhile Diksha continues her solid back 9 with three back to back pars. She maintains +3 through 12 holes

Safe play by Aditi. 18th is a very very tricky hole. With the flag tucked behind the right front bunker and water to tackle, only the bravest of brave will attempt to attack the flag. If you can risk it (and make it), reward can be a birdie. The green also slopes down towards the water. Aditi will look for an up & down par to close out what could turn out to be the "defining" round of the day!

That's one way to force broadcasters to cover you on TV: get on top of the leaderboard....

Aditi drives down the fairway on 18th! She's done this the whole day today, put ball in fairway, get it on green in regulation & finish hole with at most a par...Super!

Leaderboard:

Taking inspiration, Diksha find center fairway on her tee shot on 12th

She now is co-leader with Madelene Stagstrom at -5

Aditi!, Aditi!!, Aditi!!!
I can hear those chants.....Top of the leaderboard with a birdie on 17th!!

Wei-Ling slips to T4 at 3 under par through 16 after 2 bogeys in her back 9.

Solid par for Diksha on 11th. Remain +3 thru the round.

Aditi's second went a bit hot on 17th. But as has been the feature of this round, she finds green in two on this short-ish par 4 playing at 311 yards today. Another birdie chance coming up

Diksha on the 11th green in regulation. That was a brave 170yard+ second shot from rough. Well done girl. A few more good shots like this will do a world of good to her confidence going into future rounds...

As Aditi's displayed right through this round, she finds center fairway on 17th tee shot.

Great up & down for a par on 10th by Diksha to start her back 9. She's +3 thru 10

Aditi Ashok pars 16th to remain at 4 under par and tied for 2nd spot.