Aditi Ashok of India takes the road less traveled to get to Olympic golf

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Aditi Ashok of India had her golf shirt untucked and took long, languid steps along the fairway Wednesday at Le Golf National, looking very much like someone who had a long day of travel.

That she did.

Ashok walked off the 18th green at the Portland Classic on the LPGA Tour — that’s in Oregon, not Maine — on Sunday. Just over 60 hours later, she walked off the 18th green at Le Golf National after a respectable even-par 72 in the Olympic women’s golf competition.

Talk about the road less traveled.

She was the only player at the Olympics to play in the Portland Classic last week, wanting to get in as many tournaments as possible before taking a big break at the end of the month and spending time at home in India.

The trip was a blur after she tied for 22nd in Portland.

“I holed out I think at 4:10 p.m. My dad ran to the car to pack the golf bag and then showered and straight to the airport,” Ashok said.

Her flight from Portland to London left at 7 p.m. PDT, and she got to the airport in plenty of time. Ashok booked separate flights — one to Heathrow, another to Paris — so that her bags would not get lost in a transfer. That worked out great.

But when she arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport, the Olympic accreditation desk was closed.

“So then I had to go back to the (Olympic) Village, which is an extra hour, but eventually got to the room at like 11:30. I was so tired. I slept through the whole night … probably because I was so tired from the round and the travel. So I thought, ‘OK, I slept through the whole night, so I figured this out.’ But then last night, I was up at 1 a.m. to 4 a.m.

“I haven’t figured it out yet, but hopefully it gets better as the week goes on,” she said. “Not at 100%, but close enough.”

At least she has these Olympics figured out.

She was 18 and the youngest player in the field when she was in contention going into the weekend at the Rio de Janeiro Games, where she faded on the weekend. And then in Tokyo, she made up for her short hitting with superb putting and missed out on a chance at the bronze medal by one shot.

But this is a serious test. The decision to play 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) and nine time zones away kept Ashok from seeing Le Golf National until they announced her name on the first tee, though she did manage to play a few practice rounds before the Evian Championship last month.

“I think because I didn’t know a lot about the golf course — like the rough around certain parts of the green and how the rough was off certain fairways, I kind of kept it simple for the most part,” Ashok said. “Sometimes I feel like I was too defensive but … that actually helped me because I was just making pars when some people were maybe dropping shots that actually worked out except for the last hole.”

Oh, but for that last hole.

The 18th at Le Golf National is playing as a par 5 for the women’s competition. That didn’t help Ashok. She found the rough off the tee. She laid up into the rough. She didn’t want to lay up again on a par 5, so she boldly went for the peninsula green from 89 yards and went into the water.

“I hit a bad drive. I hit a bad second shot. I hit a bad third shot,” Ashok said. “So not much good happened there.”

But she was finished, and she was tired, and she did not shoot herself out of the tournament. Scores under par were scarce in the opening round because of the wind and the rough. Ashok earned a good afternoon nap.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games