Philippine Ladies Masters golf: Kim zooms atop leaderboard; Del Rosario falters

STA. ROSA, Laguna — South Korea’s Ahyeon Kim stormed to the top with a flawless, bogey-free rally as lone Filipino title contender Pauline del Rosario stumbled in the last three holes to miss out on a solo second spot entering the championship round of the ICTSI Worldwide Link Philippine Ladies Masters on a cloudy Thursday here at the Country Club in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. 

Rising from the joint-eighth place in the opening round, Kim rifled in five birdies on the front nine then proved steady on the back to card a searing five-under 67 without a single bogey en route to the driver’s seat of the first KLPGA-sanctioned tourney in partnership with the TLPGA and the LPGT. 

Ahyeon, ranked No. 190 in the KLPGA, birdied the holes No. 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9 for a waxing start and never looked back by parring the entire back nine for a total of seven-under 137 after carding two-under 70 in the first round. 

“I just tried to focus on putting it to the fairways as much as I can. I focused on making birdies accessible and that’s the difference today,” said Kim, who’s coming off an eighth-place finish in the Indonesia Women’s Open. 

Her impressive run put her in prime position to keep the clubhouse lead and own the title of the 54-hole, $200,000 tourney as previous leader Eunjeong Seong tripped all the way to joint sixth with Del Rosario and Thai ace Pattharat Rattanawan with a subpar one-plus 73 after a five-under 67 in the first round. 

Parinda Phokan of Thailand, from a four-way tie in the first round, owned the solo second spot this time with a two-under 70 marked by four birdies and two bogeys for a total of six-under 138. 

Trailing her were Nakyoung Han and Seoyoon Kim of South Korea as well as Li-Ning Wang of Chinese Taipei with similar five-under 139 at joint third of the Philippine leg of the Asia Pacific Circuit Series Tour. 

And then there’s Del Rosario, who fumbled a chance at solo second spot after a double bogey on the 16th and another bogey on the 18th. 

Del Rosario, the first-ever Filipina champion in the TLGPA and fresh off an 11th^-place finish in Jakarta, was just knocking on Kim’s doorstep in the final three holes with a six-under 69 before eventually settling for a one-under 71 in the second round.

“Obviously, sayang siya but that was my judgment. It wasn’t good enough to close my round. I will learn from it. Babawi tayo sa Round 3,” said Del Rosario, who carded three-under 69 in Round 1 for a total of four-under 140, staying in title play for the championship flght today. 

Completing the leaderboard were Pakin Kawinpakorn and Nook Sukapan of Thailand as Reean Kim and Kayoung Kim of South Korea with three-under 141 in two rounds at joint ninth. 

Nahyun Kim, second-running in Round 1, stumbled to joint 13th with a dismal two-plus 74 after carding four-under 68 in the opening salvo as the rest of the Filipino contingent settled at the middle to the bottom of the pack.

Florence Yvon Bisera was the only other Filipina in the leaderboard at No. 20 with even 144 as Paris Olympian Dottie Ardina slightly climbed to No. 45 from No. 69 with four-plus 148 after an even 72 in the second round.