By: Max Bechtoldt
Today on our Olympic power rankings, we meet the two players representing Germany, as well as the breakout star of the Tokyo Olympics. Read below to meet #28-26 in the women’s golf field:
28. Esther Henseleit – Germany – The maternity leaves of the two most prominent German women’s golfers in the world (Sophia Popov and Caroline Masson) opened up the German team qualifying. Don’t be fooled though, these two very well may have qualified anyway. Henseleit has quietly had five top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour in the last two seasons, including a seventh place finish a few weeks ago at the Evian Championship. She hasn’t yet won on the LPGA Tour, but she has won twice on the LET, most recently in 2022.
27. Alexandra Försterling – Germany – American fans might not be overly familiar with Försterling, but they should get used to the name. Försterling is a rising star on the LET, with a recent record very reminiscent of Maja Stark’s pre-LPGA Tour career. Försterling won twice on the LET at the end of 2023, and has followed that up with two LET wins in 2024. One of those was at the Aramco Tampa event, which had an LPGA Tour-level field. She has yet to finish in the top 10 in an LPGA Tour event, but her LET play has been so impressive.
26. Aditi Ashok – India – The breakout star of the Tokyo Olympics finished just one stroke off the medal stand despite ranking 59 out of 60 in driving distance. She has added distance now and a lot more experience against the best in the world. Ashok is actually the only player in the Olympic field who is playing this week on the LPGA Tour. That will leave her with potentially only two days of prep in Paris. That could also work to her advantage if she is in good form in Portland. Since the beginning of 2023, Ashok has won twice on the LET and had five top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour last season.
