Ardina ties for 10th in Circling Raven golf tourney

MANILA, Philippines – Dottie Ardina kept her long game going but tripped at the finish and carded a 69 for a share of 10th in the Circling Raven Championship ruled by Jillian Hollis of the US in Worley, Idaho Sunday (Monday, Manila time).

Ardina hit all but one fairway for the second straight day and bucked a wobbly iron game with superb putting to post her best result since scoring a breakthrough on the Epson Tour in the Copper Rock Championship in Ohio last April.

The ICTSI-backed campaigner struggled to joint 45th in the Garden City Charity Classic, wound up at tied 28th in the IOA Golf Classic, ended up joint 44th in the Twin Bridges Championship, shared 38th place in the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, tied for 33rd in the French Lick Charity Classic and finished joint 21st in last week’s Four Winds Invitational.

Though she went out of regulation six times, Ardina made up for her struggle by finishing with 27 putts, including birdies on Nos. 1, 8, 13 and 15, but missed one for par on the last hole that ruined what would’ve been a bogey-free round.

She wound up with a nine-under 207 for joint 10th with three others, nine shots behind Hollis, who broke away from a four-way tie for the lead with three straight birdies from No. 1. She then rebounded from a mishap on No. 4 with six birdies to fire a 64 and post a two-stroke victory over erstwhile co-leader Aussie Robyn Choi with a 198.
Choi actually charged back to stalk Hollis with her own birdie-run, including on No. 17 that pulled her to within one off the American. But she bogeyed the last in her frantic attempt to force a playoff and wound up with 66 for a 200 total.

Alexa Pano, also of the US, rallied with a 65 to snatch third place at 202.

Clariss Guce, meanwhile, survived a rollercoaster round of five birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey as she turned in a 71 for a share of 50th at 214 in the 10th leg of the LPGA Tour’s farm league.