Delasin resumes bid in US LPGA

Dorothy Delasin hopes to come out strong after a month-long rest as she resumes her campaign in the LPGA Tour beginning Thursday (Friday in Manila) at the start of the Longs Drugs Challenge at the Twelve Bridges Golf Club in Lincoln, California.

Three missed cut stints in her last three tournaments prompted Delasin to take a break from the lucrative circuit as she tinkered with her driving and polished her putting stroke which she hopes to brandish when she tees off on No. 1 at 8:30 a.m. with Ashli Bunch of Tennessee and Korean Jeong Jang.

The 72-hole tournament, which serves as the ninth leg of the LPGA Tour, offers $105,000 to the winner with Delasin seeking to better her joint 36th place finish in the Subaru Memorial tournament last January where she won $5,004.

Counting her $3,222 winnings for finishing joint 43rd in the LA Women's Championship, Delasin has so far earned a measly $8,226 in her five tournaments as a pro.

That pales in comparison with compatriot's Jennifer Rosales' winnings of $13,768, topped by her $7,413 earnings for finishing joint 25th in last month's Standard Ping Register Championship.

Rosales, however, will not see action in this week's event, which features the likes of Juli Inkster, Charlotta and Annika Sorenstam, Dottie Pepper and Kellie Kuehne.

Meanwhile, Filipino Frankie Miñoza, who dropped to No. 100 in the world ranking early this year after reaching a high No. 52 in 1998, is now out of the top 100, his place taken by Japanese Shingo Katayama.