Del Rosario vows comeback after early miscue in Epson Tour
MANILA, Philippines — Pauline del Rosario closed out her first Epson Tour foray as a full-time campaigner the way she started it — with a miscue — as she hobbled with a 74 in windy conditions to trail Korean Min-G Kim by seven in the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in Winter Haven, Florida Friday.
She was actually on her way to checking a rollercoaster backside start with a run of pars at the front but flubbed a couple of chances and overshot the par-5 No. 9 of the Country Club of Winter Haven that puts premium on precise approach play for its elevated, turtle-shell shape greens.
Del Rosario ended up with a bogey and a pair of 37s that dropped her to a share of 47th, just within the Top 60-plus ties cut bracket.
“My ball-striking wasn’t at its best. It’s windy so it was easy to get into difficult positions,” rued the late-starting del Rosario, who overshot the 9th green with her 3-wood second shot. “I had a tough time pitching from below since most of the greens here are elevated.”
Fil-Am Clariss Guce, meanwhile, struggled coming off a long layoff, fumbling with a frontside 37 then dropping three straight strokes from No. 12 before holing out with birdie for a 75.
The two-time Symetra Tour, now the Epson Tour, winner lay at joint 66th in a 132-player starting field and would need to shoot in the 60s to make it to the final round of the $200,000, 54-hole championship kicking off the Road to the LPGA.
The top 10 after the 20-leg circuit will earn cards for next year’s edition of the world’s premier ladies tour.
Unlike Guce, the ICTSI-backed del Rosario stepped into the fray exuding confidence coming off a victory in the East Coast Women’s Pro Tour two weeks ago. But she bogeyed No. 10, regained the stroke on No. 13, only to yield it again on the next.
She dropped another stroke on the 17th but birdied the par-5 18th.
“I know the courses on the Epson Tour are more demanding in terms of conditions, length, firmness of the greens unlike on other tours,” rued del Rosario, who played on the Women’s All Pro Tour and the East Coast Tour as part of her buildup for the LPGA’s farm league. “But definitely, I can do better.”
She must since another over-par round may drop her out of the Sunday cast.
“The course actually isn’t difficult, playing just over 6,500 yards,” said del Rosario, who hopes to cash in on an 8:28 a.m. tee-start with Aussie Gabriella Ruffels, who also made a 74, and American Jessica Welch, who groped for a 76. “But it was windy and the greens are hard and fast.”
Kim, meanwhile, came armed to the teeth, draining five birdies for a solid 67 that put her in front by one of Gabby Lemieux of the US, India’s Nishta Madan and Swede Frida Kinhult, who all carded 68s, while Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan and Weiwei Zhang of China matched 69s.
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