Saso shoots 2 eagles, finishes tied for 4th

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine ace Yuka Saso fired two eagles to spike a closing six-under-par 65 and place joint fourth in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Sunday at the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas.

The reigning US Women’s Open champion finished the 54-hole event at 14-under 199, just two shots off Japanese Nasa Hataoka, who captured her second title in Arkansas at 16-under 197 after a final-round 67.

Saso, who had previous cards of 69 and 65, earned $104,506 (P5.3 million) for taking No. 4 in a tie with American Danielle Kang (65).

The 20-year Fil-Japanese parbuster wound up one stroke behind runners-up Eun-Hee Ji of Korea (67) and Minjee Lee of Australia (68), who tallied 198.

Dottie Ardina shot a bogey-free 68 to log a 209 aggregate, good for a tie for 56th and $5,923 (over P300,000). Bianca Pagdanganan matched par-71 on the final day to wind up in joint 74th at 212 and receive $4,188 (over P200,000).

The ICTSI-backed Saso eagled the seventh and 18th holes – both par-5s – in a fiery windup that also featured four birdies against two bogeys.

“I had probably like 230 (yards) to the flag (on No. 7), help wind. Had 5-wood probably like 50 or 60 feet putt, left to right. Pretty long putt. It was pretty good and went in. Maybe lucky,” Saso said of her first eagle.

“On 18, I got to like 210 to 215 to the flag, into. I had a 5-wood again and actually after I hit, I said ‘good.’ So I hit (a) pretty good shot and had two eagles today,” she said.