Diksha Dagar registered her best result in almost two-and-a-half years with a superb T-4th place finish,which was capped by a flawless final round of 6-under 66 at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open in Beroun, Czech Republic.

This is Diksha’s second best result in her career, bettered only by the lone win on the Ladies European Tour in early 2019, when she took the Investec Women’s South African Open.

Diksha, who was troubled by a back problem in the second half of pandemic-hit 2020, last achieved a Top-10 result in February 2020, when she was T-7 at. the NSW Open in Australia. Earlier this month when she was unable to play at the Jabra Ladies Open in France, she decided to play at the Amundi Czech Ladies on the LET Access Series (LETAS), the second rung tour for women in Europe, and finished tied-sixth. That helped her confidence and it showed in her second start in Czech Republic within a month.

This week India's other player Tvesa Malik and Astha Madan had missed the cut.

Diksha was flawless over her last 41 holes. Her only bogeys of the week came back-to-back on the 12th and 13th holes on the first day. At the end of the first day, she was T-36th and on the second she rose to T-12, after being in the Top-10 for most part of the day.

In the final round, Diksha got off to a superb start. After a par-par opening she had three birdies in a row from third to fifth, and added three more in a row from eighth to 10th to be 6-under through 10 holes for the day. At that stage, she was T-2 and just one behind the leader and ultimate winner, Atthaya Thitikul, the 18-year-old Thai prodigy.

Diksha did not drop a shot in her last eight holes, but she was also unable to find any more birdies, though a few were close.,

Atthaya, now 18, won the Ladies European Thailand Open in 2017 and 2019 at 14 and 16 years of age while still being an amateur.

In 2018 she won the Women’s Asia-Pacific Amateur in Singapore and also finished eighth at the HSBC Women’s Champions. She finally turned pro in 2020.

In the final round in the Czech Republic, Atthaya wobbled with two bogeys in the first four holes, but then found nine birdies, including three in the last four holes, for a round of 65. That gave her a total of 15-under and a one-shot win over Spaniard Nuria Iturrioz (68), as Leonie Harm of Germany finished third.

Diksha Dagar was tied fourth alongside England’s Chloe Frankish.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW