The left-handed star is enjoying her best season to date on the Ladies European Tour, racking up six top-10 finishes and sealing one victory at the Czech Ladies Open — her second win on the circuit in five years.

Climbing to fourth in the Race to Costa del Sol in the process while also landing the accolade for the best ever showing by an Indian at a major — Dagar finished T21 at this year’s AIG Women’s Open — the confidence is justifiable for the 22-year-old as she aims to become her nation’s second winner of the event on home soil.

“It would be a very proud moment to win the Hero Women’s Indian Open,” said Dagar, who would follow in Aditi Ashok’s footsteps from 2016 with a victory this week. “I’m feeling good, this season has been great so far, clearly, my best in five years playing on the LET. This year has pushed my confidence and I’m feeling confident that I will do well. I will do my best.”

The two-time LET winner is one of 32 Indian players teeing up at DLF Golf & Country Club this week, but it’s not just her fine form which makes Dagar the home favourite heading into the 15th staging of the event.

“DLF is like my second home golf course,” Dagar explains, who lives just 30 minutes from the facility on the outskirts of New Delhi. “The greens and the facilities are very good. It is a very tough golf course but it gives you very good preparation for the international events.

“It’s been very nice to be home after playing a lot of golf internationally. Being here at home is a lot different, it’s a bit easier and you have more crowds supporting you. It feels really good.

“My family will be here. I’ll be honest, golf is growing a lot more in India so a lot of them will be coming to watch.

The Indian Open will forever be the tournament which first put Dagar on the map after the Deaflympics star won the low amateur award on her LET debut in 2016, aged just 15-years-old.

“It was a good thing,” Dagar said. “At that time I used to think it was a very big event and I knew it was a very big opportunity. I am grateful to my family and the people that have supported me through the journey. Now when I play here on the Ladies European Tour in India, I get flashbacks and very good feelings.”

As for the Race to Costa del Sol, Dagar, currently in fourth position on 1,484.61 points, can leapfrog Celine Boutier who sits in first should she finish solo second or better in New Delhi.

But while the prize is now a reality for the Indian sensation with four events remaining in the 2023 schedule, Dagar is continuing to stay grounded as we approach the crunch end of proceedings.

“I’m not thinking too much about that,” she said. “Yes, I’m hoping to do well and I am trying my best, but I am just going to keep playing my game and do the best that I can.

“My secret has been that I have been focusing on my game and working on it a lot more. I have been putting myself in winning positions and the secret is just believing in myself more.”

Dagar gets her 2023 Hero Women’s Indian Open campaign under way at 11.25am local time on Thursday playing alongside fellow LET winners Nuria Iturrioz from Spain and Manon De Roey from Belgium.

Diksha Dagar. LET

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Diksha Dagar was the star of the show at Dromoland Castle as the Indian youngster fired an opening round of 65 to take the lead on seven-under at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Dromoland Castle.

The two-time LET winner was bogey-free on day one of the competition as she began her round on the 10th tee.

Dagar rolled in back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 before doing it again on holes 15 and 16 and she made three further birdies on holes two, five and nine.

“It has been a long season, I was taking one shot at a time and not taking it too seriously today,” said the Indian star, who is fifth in the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol.

“I had seven birdies. I had a good day and I’m happy to see myself keeping with the good momentum that I’ve got.

“I am still very good from tee to the green, but at the beginning of the season, I was struggling on the greens. It was a matter of time; I have been practicing a lot, taking one shot at a time and reading the lines and I have improved in my putting.

“I was thinking this golf course is tough, so I just took it one shot at a time because every shot counts. It was a good day and very surprising. I have been having the same mentality and every year my game improves and so does my thinking process. The more you play, the better you get.”

American Gurleen Kaur and France’s Emma Grechi sit in a tie for second place on six-under at Dromoland Castle.

Kaur, who is in her rookie season on the LET, had only one dropped shot on her scorecard and rolled in seven birdies for her round of 66.

“It was good, I putted really well, and I was able to hit the ball well,” said Kaur. “I actually didn’t play the par-fives that well, so I feel I left a couple out there, but otherwise it was a really good starting day.

“In a couple of places, I had more spin than I thought I was going to. It was very much on and off with the rain, but overall, I think we got pretty lucky and it wasn’t heavy at all. It felt like a good day, and it got hot when the same came out.

“I felt good about my game, I was coming in with no expectations because I haven’t been playing much LET this year. I was supposed to in May, and I got injured a little bit and decided to stay and play more Epson events.

“I played well last week, a top-15 finish so I was feeling pretty good and I played better than I thought. The practice round was playing really tough, it was windy and rainy, so it just felt like it was overall a good day.”

RELATED: Discover Dromoland Castle

Grechi began her day on the 10th tee and had a bogey on 14th but bounced back with an eagle on the next hole.

The Frenchwoman then produced back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 before adding three more on her back nine for her round of six-under.

“I just played well today, I played my game,” said Grechi. “My sister Carla is caddying for me this tournament, so I just want to enjoy it and have fun with her. That happened! I made some birdies; my long game was good and my short game was too.

“I changed a lot of things at the end of last year, it’s taken a long time to have to come together in a good way. I have made a lot of cuts but I didn’t play many times for the top-10 but I’m keeping confident about what I’m working on.”

South Africa’s Casandra Alexander and Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley sit one shot further back in a share of fourth place on five-under.

Seven players are in a share of sixth place on four-under-par with defending champion Klara Davidson Spilkova alongside Austria’s Christine Wolf, English duo Gabriella Cowley and Eleanor Givens, Spain’s Emma Cabrera Bello, France’s Anne-Lise Caudal and Germany’s Sophie Witt.

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Diksha Dagar of India maintained her lead throughout the final round to claim her second Ladies European Tour title at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open at Royal Beroun Golf Club. 

The 22-year-old from New Delhi carded rounds of 69, 65 and 69 for a 54-hole total of 203, 13-under-par and a four-stroke victory over Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab. 

Dagar earned her first win at the 2019 Investec South African Women’s Open as an 18-year-old rookie professional and it has felt like a long wait for her second title.

“I’m feeling very happy. I finally won after five years. My first win just happened and for this event, I really worked hard for this. For the last three weeks, I was very close to a win and it has finally happened,” Dagar said.

“I feel so happy to be part of the winner’s circle again. It has given me confidence and I finally believe in myself that, yes, I can do it.”

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— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) June 25, 2023

Dagar, who began the final day with a five-stroke lead, made a steady start with six consecutive pars before recording a pair of birdies on the seventh and ninth holes. On the long seventh, she hit her second shot left into the bunker but made a great up and down. Then on the ninth, she drove towards the green but was a little unlucky that her ball again rolled into the bunker, but she splashed out and tapped in. 

She had strong birdie chances on both the third and fifth holes. The only hiccup was on the tenth, where she pulled her drive into the lake resulting in her only bogey of the day.

Her short game was on point and on the 13th, she had a fast downhill chip which she played beautifully resulting in a solid par there.

On the long uphill par-5 15th, she hit an excellent drive followed by a 3-wood short of the green. Again, she played an excellent chip and made a beautiful putt from 15 feet. 

She had another good chance from six feet on the short 17th but just missed it. On 18, she hit a long drive and played her 6-iron deliberately to the right side of the green to avoid the bunker. From just short of the green, she played another delicate chip, setting up a tap-in birdie to finish. 

Dagar continued: “I saw the scoreboard on the 16th and I thought, thank God I made a birdie on the 15th. I faced a difficult chip on 16 and after I made a par there, I thought, with two holes to go and a three-shot lead, I can finally breathe a little more easily.”

Tristan Jones/LET

She thanked her father, Colonel Narinder Dagar, for caddying for her, adding that her main goal is qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games and representing her country there, which is why she is taking a more disciplined approach in all areas of her life, forgoing watching films and TV late at night for more sleep.

“My key to success was just following the routine. I have worked on my putting skills and also been getting a lot of sleep, which keeps you focused,” she said.

Second-placed Cheenglab from Thailand set the clubhouse target with a final round of eight-under-par 64 to move up into second position, her personal low round and career-best result on the LET.

The 27-year-old LET rookie, who previously played on the Thai, China and Taiwan Tours, had two eagles and four birdies on her scorecard. Her first eagle landed on the par-5 fifth hole and she finished in style by chipping in from the back of the 18th green.  Cheenglab said: “I’ve got goosebumps. I had many chances for eagles since the first day but just had one in the second round. My mum was caddying for the second straight week and she was tired because it was so hilly, but she helped to cheer me up throughout the round.”

Celine Herbin of France carded a final round of 67 to end in outright third position on eight-under-par, while English trio Lily May Humphreys, Gabriella Cowley and Cara Gainer tied for fourth with Scotland’s Laura Beveridge, who carded a sensational nine-under-par 63, which was the low round of the tournament.

Beveridge, who had her husband, Keil, on caddie duties, said: “It was good. I feel like we were really good with our club choices into greens, we were sensible and we sneaked a few early on. I hit the ball nicely off the tee. I’ve been hitting some absolute tonkers and I hit one which was 326 [yards], on 14, down the hill. We’ve been working on tempo and keeping it mellow; nice and smooth.”

The 63, which included six birdies in a row from the 15th to the second holes, was a personal best for Beveridge and equalled the course record set by Emily Kristine Pedersen in 2020.

Beveridge continued: “I’ve played in all of the events so far and haven’t taken a break. This is week seven. We get to a point where we’re trying to find a bit of rhythm so hopefully, I can kick on because it was at this event last year where I hit a turning point, so I have good memories here.”

In the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, with a tie for eighth, Ana Peláez Trivino moved into the number one spot ahead of Aditi Ashok. Klara Davidson Spilkova moved up into third place, with Linn Grant dropping to fourth. 

With her win, worth 500 points, Diksha Dagar climbed from 22nd to fifth place, followed by Lily May Humphreys in sixth, Chiara Noja in seventh, Alice Hewson in eighth, Cara Gainer in ninth and Celine Herbin in tenth.

The LET now moves to Helsinki for the Ladies Open by Pickala Rock Resort at Pickala Golf in Finland.

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With Morocco’s Maha Haddioui, Indian Diksha Dagar and his H.E Yasir Al-Rumayyan in her corner, Team Hall earned the opening-round lead at the unique $1 million Pro-Am event at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on Wednesday.

For deeper context, that’s a former major champion and European No.1 (Hall) leading her captain’s pick (Haddioui) who just happens to be the only Arabic player in women’s professional golf, a 20-year-old who has already won on the LET (Dagar) and, for good measure, the dual chairman of the event’s title sponsor and Golf Saudi. Call His Excellency an amateur with significant global trade and golf business influence if you like.

At -19, Team Hall lead Team Carlota Ciganda by a stroke. Hall’s captain’s knock, a seven-under 65, also sees her joint top of the individual standings with German Olivia Cowan. It all translated to excellent golf and PR gold.

H.E Yasir Al Rumayyan.

Hall finished last week’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International at the same venue 13-under-par and went blemish-free on Wednesday.

“Bogey-free is always a nice round here,” said Hall. “I tried to take advantage of not a lot of wind, and I still missed a quite few putts, but I’m happy with -7.”

Diksha Dagar.

Dagar – who missed the cut at the Saudi Ladies – wasted no time in making amends, shooting an opening-round 68.

“Today was very good in general. I had a very good start, and we have a very good team. We have a chance and tomorrow we can pick it up and continue playing good golf.”

Haddioui, a fan favourite in King Abdullah Economic City, chipped in with some momentum keeping putts.

“It was really fun playing as a team,” said Haddioui. “I started pretty well but couldn’t keep it up on the back nine. But still, I made a few good pars when I needed to and had a few birdies on the front nine too, so it was nice.”

Ciganda had Spanish compatriot Harang Lee, Germany’s Leticia Ras-Anderica, and amateur Lee Seung Su in her team.

“I’m enjoying being on this course,” said Ciganda. “The back nine was tricky. There was a lot of wind today and the last few holes weren’t easy, but we did great as a team – when one player was in trouble we had another in good shape. That’s what you want in this type of format. I had a great time with Harang, Leticia and our amateur and we’re ready for tomorrow.”

Olivia Cowan won the Aramco Team Series – London’s team crown back in July. In sitting joint-top with Hall with two rounds to play, the German could now end this year’s run of Series events with a solo win, too. Team Cowan also sit just three behind Team Hall.

Maha Haddioui.

“I think we just worked really well as a team. On some of the holes where one didn’t do as well, the other two helped out. We had quite a few birdies which definitely helped,” saidn Cowan.

“Our amateur is really good to talk to and he’s really chilled out. We all get on really well, so it’s a good team. The most important thing is to have fun out there – and we’re having a good time, which makes us play well.”

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The 18-year-old lefty, who was born deaf, created history before the coronavirus lockdown when she become the youngest Indian to win on the Ladies European Tour at the South African Women’s Open in March.

That victory will make her one of the players to watch at the $285,000 LET stop on the Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club from November 4-6.

COVID-19 restrictions mean the Moonlight Pro-Am will be played behind closed doors but Dagar, who has cochlear implants, is determined to let her game be a beacon for those watching on television around the world, including Dubai Sports Channel.

“In such a difficult year as 2020, just being able to play in tournaments such as the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic make me incredibly lucky,” she said.

“To be able to play professional golf is all thanks to my family and the people around me for offering me guidance, support and encouragement. Being born deaf, I never knew what it was like to hear or that I was missing anything. It’s this attitude that has allowed me to turn pro and compete with the attitude that I can play with the best.”

Dagar, who had her father and coach, Col Narinder Dagar, on her bag in Cape Town, is just a wisp of a girl but clearly has a huge heart. She dominated the junior ranks in her homeland, made the cut as a 15-year-old amateur after gaining an invite to the professional Hero Women’s Indian Open in 2016, won a silver medal at the Deaflympics in Turkey the following year, represented India at the Queen Sirikit Cup and won the 2018 Singapore Open.

“Golf has been an anchor in my life, bringing me great joy and happiness. To those suffering with their own problems, particularly young girls and women, I recommend accepting your respective situation and learning that whatever the difficulty, it is likely to only form a small part of your overall life,” Dagar said.

“It’s important to work hard and take advantage of the chances we’re offered. There is always opportunity in adversity, so use it.

“The fact that the tournament organisers have taken the decision to host this event behind closed doors in Dubai, is testament to our game’s resilience. Even if unable to watch in-person, golf brings excitement and joy to those watching and my goal for the end of this year is to play as well as I possibly can for those stuck at home and perhaps inspire those who thought golf might not be for them.”

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