Indian golfer Aditi Ashok made a stellar start to a four-under 67 in the opening round of the Tokyo Olympic Golf Championship at the Kasumigaseki Country Club here on Wednesday.
Aditi, who grabbed golf's attention at the Rio Olympics five years ago, shared the second spot with world No. 1 Nelly Korda.
She was one shot behind the leader, Sweden's Madeline Sagström, who shot 66.
Aditi may have her share of the lead but on the 18th hole it goes for a bogey.
While Sagstrom shot a bogey free five-under 66, Aditi made five birdies against a bogey and that to the closing hole.
She was well placed ahead of some of the big names in women's golf, including the formidable defending champion, Inby Park (69).
India's other entrant in the field, Diksha Dagar (76), had a poor start in her first Olympics as she had five bogeys and no birdie to lay down in 56th place.
The 60-player field will play 18 holes each day and there will be no cuts, so all players get to play 72 holes.
Aditi birdies at 15 feet and 7 feet at fifth and ninth position respectively.
In the last nine, he birdied from 15 feet on the 13th and about 18 feet on the second 17th.
In between, he took another birdie from under three feet after a brilliant approach on the 14th. He bogged down for the last time after missing a par from under seven feet, placed at 5-under.
"I think I played better than I expected today because I had a lot of hybrids in the greens, so I didn't really expect to be like a 5-under 17," said Aditi.
"But, I holed a few (good) puts and also hid important cross puts to keep the momentum going. So yeah, it was a good day."
When Aditi entered the Olympics five years ago, her father Ashok was in the bag and this time her mother Maheshwari, who has been a big influence on her.
"Yeah, my mom, she's drinking tea for me. Last time I had my dad, the experience was so incredible. I was like I want to have my mom next time and I kept that promise," Aditi said.
Aditi said she was a beginner last time but now she has a wealth of experience.
"... I just finished my high school exams and then I was at the Olympics in two months. But this time I think there's definitely a lot more experience, playing on the LPGA in the last five years gives you a Improves as a player. I was in Rio.
"And I think the Olympic experience was, I didn't finish as well as last time, but it was inspiring to see the impact it had on golf in India and it inspired me to do the same."
The 23-year-old from Bengaluru, who has 18 major appearances, had garnered global attention with a 68-68 start in the first two rounds in Rio, but then dropped to T-41st.
Among others, world number two Ko Jin-young of South Korea, Matilda Castren of Finland and Spaniard Carlota Siganda all finished fourth after cards three-under 68.
The South Korean team also includes defending Olympic champion Park Inbi (69) and world No. 4 Kim Sei-young (69), ranked 7th, and sixth-placed Kim Hyo-joo (70) T-16th. are on.
Former world number one Lydia Ko (70) of New Zealand was four behind the leader, while Thailand's Aria Jutanugarn, a double major winner, stumbled to 77 with six bogeys and is 58th in the 60-player field.
Major winners Fang Shanshan of China and Brooke Henderson of Canada scored 74-74.