DIksha Dagar
Czechia, Czech Rep, June 25: After weeks of knocking at the door for her second Ladies European Tour win, Diksha Dagar finally cruised to her second career success, a little over 51 months after the first one on the Ladies European Tour. She grabbed a commanding four-shot win at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open on Sunday with a final 69 and a total of 13-under.
The 22-year-old left-hander Diksha won her first LET title back in 2019 in her rookie year and in 2021 she was part of the winning team at the Aramco Team Series in London.
This was Diksha’s 79th start on the LET and she now has two individual wins and nine Top-10 finishes, four of which have come this season.
Starting the day with a five-shot lead, Diksha, who hails from Jhajjar in Haryana, duly delivered the win with no hiccups.
Diksha’s final round 69 included four birdies and just one bogey in a week, where she dropped shots only once each on first and last days with a bogey-free 65 in between on the second day.
Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab made a valiant charge on the final day with a 64, but her first two rounds of 73-70 meant she started the final day nine shots behind Diksha and that was too much overcome for the Thai. The 22-year-old Indian was steady throughout Sunday just as she had been all week. Trichat finished with a total of 9-under and was sole second while Frenchwoman Celine Herbin (69-72-67) was third at 8-under.
After a series of Top-10 finishes, three of them in last four starts, Diksha finally forced the door open with a stunning performance that was highlighted by a second round of 7-under 65. She compiled rounds of 69-65-69 with 13 birdies, an eagle and just two bogeys in 54 holes over three rounds. She played superbly despite windy conditions early in the week at the Royal Beroun Golf Club, where she had finished Tied-fourth in 2021.
Diksha was the second Indian to win on the LET Tour after Aditi Ashok won the Hero Women’s Indian Open in 2016 to become the first Indian to triumph on the Tour. Diksha now becomes the second Indian to win in 2023 as Aditi won the Magical Kenya Ladies earlier this season. The duo are the only Indians to have tasted success on LET.
Diksha won her first LET title in 2019 at the Investec Women’s South African Open in March 2019 and now after four years, three months and 11 days she recorded her second individual success.
Starting the final day with a string of six pars, she birdied the seventh and ninth to turn in 2-under and moved to 12-under. Meanwhile, fellow Indian Pranavi Urs, who shares the same sponsor, Hero, as Diksha, made an electric start with birdies on her first five holes and a sixth on ninth. With 6-under 30 on the front nine Pranavi, a rookie on LET, who also plays on the Epson Tour in the US, rose to second place.
India then had the rare honour of holding the top two places on the leaderboard.
While, Pranavi fell back on the second nine, Diksha kept moving ahead despite dropping a shot on the 10th, only her second bogey of the week. Four pars followed and then there was another birdie on Par-4 15th, which she birdied all three days. She then closed with a birdie on 18th, another hole she birdied all three days.
This season Diksha was T-6 in Belgian Ladies, T-8 at Helsingborg Ladies Open and T-3 at Amundi German Masters last week.
Playing on a sponsor’s exemption this week, Pranavi lost her momentum on the back nine and dropped three shots on 11th, 12th and 18th and finished with 3-under 69 for her best finish on LET at Tied-17th. She shot 75-68-69 to total 4-under and finish Tied-17th, her best result on the LET.
The other Indian, who made the cut was Ridhima Dilawari, who finished with a round of 71 to be Tied-51st.
About the course and the event, Diksha had said, “Two years ago, I finished in the top five during the Olympic qualification period. My target was to finish in the top five. I have played here multiple times and I know this course very well.”
“I’m feeling confident. My main focus is to play good golf and at the moment I’m enjoying it.”
Diksha, who was born with a hearing impairment and has been wearing hearing aids since the age of six, has overcome the hurdles amazingly well with the support from her family. Her father Col Narinder Dagar is also her mentor, coach and caddie.
Diksha has also twice medallist at the Deaflympics (Olympics for the Deaf), including a gold medal in 2021 after taking a silver in 2017. In 2021 she also participated at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first-ever golfer to compete at both Deaflympics and the main Olympic Games. She also participated in the 2018 Asian Games.
Ranked 22nd on the Race to Costa Del Sol on then Ladies European Tour, Diksha is expected to force her way into Top-10 and improve dramatically in her world rankings from the current 297 and come to around 225.
Four players Lily May Humphreys (68), Laura Beveridge (63), Gabriela Cowley (70) and Cara Gainer (70) were tied fourth at 7-under.
