Aditi Ashok suffered a setback with a late double bogey but finished 1-under 71 and was Tied-8th in the first round of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España. The other Indian in the field, Tvesa Malik, who has had a steady season, was T-39 after a 3-over 75.
After briefly holding the shared lead and being 3-under, Aditi who started birdie-birdie and turned in 3-under, had a rocky back nine. Aditi bogeyed 10th and 13th but birdies on 12th and 14th meant she was still 3-under with four holes to go. She double bogeyed the Par-4 15th and finished with three pars for 71.
Tvesa Malik had a bit of a struggle at the end of a long season, as she had only one birdie on seventh and had four bogeys for a 75.
Tvesa Malik sits in the 18th place on the Race to Costa Del Sol standings after playing 19 events, while Aditi is 34th, having played 10 events.
Three players sit in a share of the lead on three-under-par after the first round. Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano, France’s Anne-Lise Caudal and Belgium’s Manon De Roey all fired rounds of 69 to be at the top of the leaderboard at Los Naranjos Golf Club.
It was the Belgian who posted her score early on having been drawn in the first group of the day and she started from the 10th tee.