India’s 23-year-old Aditi Ashok put together another strong round of 3-under 68 as she moved into sole second position at the end of the third round of the women's Olympic golf tournament. The Bengalurean, shot five birdies against two bogeys and moved to 12-under for the tournament at the Kasumigaseki Country Club near Tokyo in Japan.

In the third round she reduced the gap between her and the American Nelly Korda, the World No. 1 from four shots to three shots after 54 holes. Korda finished Round 3 at -15, while Aditi remained in second place at -12.

Aditi, who did not play a few tournaments in May-June, also said she had to miss them because she had to go home to get a few visas and also that she got Covid, from which she has recovered but has probably lost distance off the tee. Yet her short game has helped her.

As Aditi sits sole second and four players are two behind in Tied-third, the tournament faces possible interruption and the final round could even be cancelled because of the forecast of a tropical storm on Saturday and maybe even Sunday.

The organisers have brought forward the tee times for the final round and have the option of playing on Sunday morning if weather permits. They are hopeful of completing 72 holes, but if 72 holes cannot be completed, the tournament will revert to being a 54 holes tournament. That would mean Aditi will have silver behind Nelly Korda’s gold.

Aditi, who unerringly found the fairways, often let the birdie putts short between a few inches to a couple of feet. That itself may have left two to three shots. Yet on the occasions when faced with clutch putts she did deliver.

Talking of her second round, Aditi said, “I think I didn't really have my best, especially on the long holes with the long approaches where I wasn't as consistent. So, yeah, definitely it was a good day and I did not make as many bogeys as I could have. My putting wasn't as good today as the first two days. So those couple par putts that were like the one on 12 and the one on 18, helped because I knew my putting wasn't that good today compared to the first two.”

Aditi revealed that she had Covid when she went back home for a while. She did not play much in May-June. She said, “Actually I went back for a couple reasons. One was to get a couple visas done and my passport was stuck in the consulate. So that's why I missed Lake Merced (LPGA Mediheal Championship). I wanted to come back out for Pure Silk and I tested positive, so I was stuck for a couple weeks. And then I tested negative and it was all good. But I do think it took a little bit of strength out of me. I was never this short. I was always short but not like 50 behind Nelly and 50 behind Nanna. But apart from the distance this year has been kind of the best I've had with my short game.”

Aditi was also candid about golf back home as she added, “I think nobody really follows golf as much. It's not that they know about it and don't follow it, it's just they don't know much about the sport to know that a major is more prestigious than the Olympics. And whenever the Olympics comes around it's always because we had a lot of sports where we were actually really good, like hockey, where we had, we used to win gold medals all the time.

“I think with golf being in (at Olympics) the second time I think people are a lot more aware and trying to follow it a lot more.”

When asked about the pressure of doing well and what it would mean to Indian gold, Aditi said, “For sure but I'm not thinking about it that much. I think no matter how I do this week people have heard about golf and they continue to tune in if they have extended the golf coverage in India because I'm in the top 3 or whatever. I think that's good in itself.”

There is a four-way tie for bronze at 10-under with former World No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, Australian Hannah Green, Denmark's Emily Kristine Pederson and Japan's Mone Inami.

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