Photo courtesy Tristan Jones.

By Kent Gray
An inexplicable four-putt on the penultimate hole made it tighter than it needed to be but Aditi Ashok held her nerve to clinch the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open on Saturday.

A clutch par on 18 at Saadiyat Beach G.C. saw the 19-year-old Indian close with a 69 to edge Englishwoman Georgia Hall by a stoke to bank €70,787 for her third Ladies European Tour title in just her second season as a professional.

Ashok enjoyed a three shot lead standing on the 17th tee even after Hall had birdied the par 3 in the group ahead. But the Bangalore teen somehow conspired to four putt for a double bogey. It meant she needed to par the testing 72nd hole to hold onto her (two stroke)overnight lead and she duly delivered.

Here’s the shot the sealed the deal on a drama-filled day in Abu Dhabi:

“It wasn’t really nerves,” Ashok said of the potentially disastrous blip on 17. “I think I just lapsed for a bit and made a four-putt. I was playing okay all day, but didn’t make as many birdie putts as I wanted to. I’m just glad I came out on top.”

After back-to-back wins in Indian and Qatar to seal the LET Rookie of the Year title last season, Ashok’s first year on the LPGA Tour in the U.S. has been a steep learning curve with just one top-10 and seven missed cuts in 20 starts.

But her talent is undeniable as shots like this during the final round highlight:

There was also wedge play like this as Ashok rattled off four rounds in the 60s – 67-66-68-69 – to finish -18:

Here’s the final standings:

“I had my game plan and wasn’t too aggressive,” Ashok said. “I just kept giving myself birdie putts and that was the plan on 17 as well. I don’t know how I ended up four-putting and I did the same on 18, gave myself a birdie putt and it didn’t go in, so I guess that was the story of my putting today, but the birdies in the middle helped.”

It was the second successive year Hall, who closed with a flawless six-under 66, has had to settle for second after the Solheim Cupper finished three behind Beth Allen at the inaugural FBMLO.

“I’m a little bit disappointed because I thought I needed an eight-under today and I was ticking the shots off in my head. I hit the ball great all week, but I putted poorly and didn’t hole anything today…All my birdie chances were inside 10 feet,” Hall told the LET.

“Aditi played great again and managed to get a par on the last, so well done to her.”

Hall was unaware of the drama unfolding behind her and it ultimately played into Ashok’s hands down the last as the Englishwoman over-cooked her approach to set up this chip she needed to hole to force a likely playoff:

“I played one of the best long games I have played all year but the putts weren’t going in and I was in between clubs on the last hole and went for the longer one. Maybe a bit of adrenaline went through me and I hit it too long but I made a good up and down.

“As far as I knew, I thought Aditi was 20-under so I was three behind going down the last, so I didn’t think I had a chance. If I had known, then maybe things would have been different.”

Swede Camilla Lennarth signed for a 67 to finish third on -16, a shot ahead of Cheyenne Woods who closed with a two-under 70.