Diksha Dagar and her father, Col Narender Dagar-file photo by LET
Aug 31: Diksha Dagar continued her brilliant run this season with a bogey-free 7-under 65 that ended with a birdie to give her the sole lead at the end of the first round of the KPMG Irish Open at the Dromoland Castle Golf Club. The 22-year-old Rohtak golfer, who has one title, and five Top-10 finishes besides a career-best finish at the Women’s Open, equalled her season’s best round of 65. She had earlier recorded a 65 in the second round while winning the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open in June.
Diksha, who is currently fifth on the Race to Costa Del Sol, which is the LET’s Order of Merit, is also aiming to finish in the Top-4 or better on the Merit list.
It is learnt that the Top-4 on the Merit List will get a LPGA card while the next 10 will get into the final stage of the LPGA Q-School. That is acting as an extra motivation for Diksha, who stayed back in Belfast last week to relax after finishing sixth in ISPS Handa Invitational in Northern Ireland.
Interestingly, Diksha was being chased by an Indian-American Gurleen Kaur, whose parents were born in India, before emigrating to the US. The Houston golfer shot 6-under 66 and held the lead, which was soon after later overtaken by Diksha. The 21-year-old Gurleen shares the second place with Frenchwoman Emma Grechi (66) at the Dromoland Castle Golf Club.
Of the others, Ridhima Dilawari shot even par 72 and was T-33 and the next best Indian after Diksha. Vani Kapoor and Tvesa Malik, who is playing on the LET after a long gap, shot 73 each and were T-63rd. Amandeep Drall shot 3-over 75 and was T-109.
Starting from the 10th tee early in the day, Diksha birdied the 11th and 12th holes and then again found back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th. She turned in four-under.
A birdie on the second, the fifth and the ninth, her closing hole, saw her compile a bogey-free 7-under 65 that put her one ahead of the field.
Diksha said, “I spent the last week in Belfast to relax and it helped. I am happy to be playing some quality golf in a healthy golfing environment.”
She added, “Some changes in equipment and greater focus and some good putting has helped me improve the scoring and results show that.”
Her father, Col Narender Dagar, who has been on the bag, added, “Diksha is no longer playing with the pressure of expectations of playing well. She is playing freely and enjoying her golf. She has worked very hard, and it has shown results as she has risen to fifth on the LET order of Merit and one of the goals is another win and try to get to the LPGA next year.”
After a rather slow start to the season, where she missed her first four starts, Diksha improved with finishes between the 37th and 49th in the individual segments of the next three events, which included two Aramco Series Team event.
The turning point came in Belgium, where she was Tied-sixth. In four events beginning with the Belgian she finished in Top-8 in all four including a win in Czech Republic, which was her first win since her maiden one in 2019 in South Africa. She had a few more modest finishes before missing the cuts at the Major, Evian, and the Scottish Open.
She made up by finishing a creditable T-21 at the AIG Women’s Open for her best result in a Major. Last week she achieved her best finish in a LPGA event at the ISPS Handa Invitational, which was co-sanctioned by LET and the LPGA and Diksha was Tied-sixth.
An Olympian from 2021 Tokyo, she is also a near certainty for the 2024 Paris Olympics, as she keeps improving on her current world ranking of 160.
What Diksha and her father avoid talking about is the possibility of topping the Race to Costa Del Sol, the LET’s Order of Merit. No Indian golfer has topped the Order of Merit in Europe either men or women’s golf. It would be a great feat for Diksha, who already has a gold and a silver from the Deaflympics, the Olympics for Deaf athletes. Diksha, who can now speak and hear very well with aids, was born deaf and has overcome all hurdles.
