Saso breaks slump in Dana Open; Abby, Dottie card 70s

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso snapped an alarming two missed cut stint with a joint 16th place effort after a two-under 69 halfway through the Dana Open now paced by American Lucy Li at the Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio Friday (Saturday, Manila time).

Though she remained five strokes off the new leader with a 137 aggregate at the par-71 layout, Saso could build on her fine 36-hole showing to sort of redeem herself from a string of so-so finishes the last three months.

After a major breakthrough in the US Women’s Open last year and a couple of Top 6 finishes early in the season, the ICTSI-backed shotmaker took a dip in form, her tied for 24th finish in the Scottish Open last July her best in her last seven tournaments marred by five missed cuts, including the last two in the AIG Women’s Open and the CP Women’s Open.

But her opening 68 in the 72-hole championship proved to be a big boost as she birdied the first two holes at the back at resumption of her campaign in the $1.75 million event. 

Though she fumbled with a double-bogey on No. 15 and yielded another stroke on the third, the 21-year-old ace struck back with three birdies in the last six holes to secure her spot in the weekend play on a 28-putt performance.

She hit 11 fairways and 13 greens but went 1-of-2 in the bunkers.

Teammate Bianca Pagdanganan, however, hardly improved from a disastrous opening 80 with a 69 as she missed the cut again with a 149 total, eight strokes off the target score.

Meanwhile, Li sizzled with a solid 64 to storm ahead at 132, two strokes clear of erstwhile joint leaders Carlota Ciganda of Spain and Chinese Ruoning Yin, who matched 69s for 134s, while Japanese defending champion Nasa Hataoka moved to joint fourth with four others at 135 after a 66.

Over in Pendleton, Oregon, Abby Arevalo and Dottie Ardina matched two-under 70s but fell seven strokes behind Norway’s Celine Borge and Xiaowen Yin of China in a day of low scoring at the start of the Wildhorse Ladies Classic Friday.

The big-hitting Arevalo highlighted her 34-36 round with an eagle on the par-5 No. 5 and included birdies on Nos. 5 and 15 against two bogeys while Ardina gunned down four birdies against two bogeys for own 34-36 output at the par-72 Wildhorse Golf Course which took a severe beating from the ladies of the Epson Tour.

Sixty seven players posted two-under rounds or better while 16 others, including US-based Filipina Clariss Guce, turned in 71s that however fell below that projected cutoff line in the $200,000 tournament spread over 54 holes.

Borge and Yin led the assault with identical 63s with the former dominating the course with nine birdies and the latter hitting 10 birdies against a bogey as they took a one-shot lead over Aussie Grace Kim and two strokes clear of Robyn Choi and Hira Naveed, also both from Australia, American Daniela Iacobelli and Paraguay’s Maria Fernanda Escauriza.

Arevalo missed just three fairways and the same number of greens but groped on the tricky surface and made 32 putts, while Ardina nearly blew a steady stint on the mound that saw her hit 12 fairways by going out of regulation six times. But she made up for her iron and wedge struggle by finishing with 28 putts.