Guce pulls within 2 with 65; Pagdanganan cards 71
MANILA, Philippines — Fil-Am Clariss Guce moved into strong contention for a third Epson Tour victory as she sizzled with a seven-under 65 and threatened to within two strokes off second round leader Maria Torres in the Guardian Championship in Pratville, Alabama Saturday.
Abby Arevalo also charged back with a 67 to jump from a share of 54th to joint 17th at 139 while fellow ICTSI teammate Dottie Ardina shot a 70 to easily make the cut at 142 heading to the final 18 holes of the $200,000 championship.
But focus will be on Guce, 32, who worked her way back from joint 36th with four straight birdies to launch her second round bid. She hit another pair on Nos. 9 and 10 then recovered from a missed green mishap on the 11th with back-to-back birdies from No. 15.
Her 31-34 round gave her a total of 136 as she forced a three-way tie for second with American Sierra Brooks, Swede Dani Holmqvist and Aussie Grace Kim while Taiwanese Ssu-Chia Cheng, Sam Wagner and Rachel Stous of the US and Chinese Yan Liu matched 137s to set the stage for a wild finish in the 54-hole tournament at the Capitol Hill Golf Club.
Brooks fired a bogey-free 65, while Holmqvist and Kim matched 66s. Cheng also carded a 66, Wagner shot a 68 and Stous and Liu turned in 69 and 70, respectively, to make it a crowded leaderboard.
But Torres looked headed for a big finish and a career breakthrough as the 27-year-old Puerto Rican took charge at 134 after a solid 66, highlighted by three birdies in the last five holes.
Guce, however, hopes to make the most of her big second round charge with an eye on ending a six-year title drought after launching her Epson Tour campaign in 2016 with victories in the Decatur-Forsyth Classic and the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic.
Over in Oregon, Bianca Pagdanganan birdied the last hole to save a second straight 71 and gain nine spots to joint 54th after three rounds of the Portland Classic jointly paced by Andrea Lee and Lilia Vu of the US and Japanese Ayaka Furue, also Saturday.
The big-hitting Filipina shotmaker, however, struggled from tee-to-green while tapering off the mound with a 281-yard clip, missing six fairways and going out of regulation seven times. But she finished with 28 putts, two more than in the previous round to salvage a 37-34.
After birdying all the long holes Friday on a 296-yard driving norm, the ICTSI-backed ace hit just one on No. 12 and even bogeyed the seventh. She also birdied the par-4 11th then bucked a bogey on No. 15 with her last-hole feat.
But her one-under 215 total kept her out of the title hunt as Lee, Furue and Vu all pooled 203s to guarantee a wide-open finish to the $1.5 million championship. Lee and Furue matched 67s while Vu rallied from a one-over frontside card with four birdies at the back for a 69.
With four players, including Japanese Hinako Shibuno, South African Paula Reto, Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea and Aussie Hannah Green, assembling identical 204s, and American Ryann O’Toole and erstwhile joint leader Esther Henseleit posting similar 205s, the final round battle is also expected to go down to the last shot or putt.
Shibuno fired a 66, Reto shot a 67 and Darquea and Green matched 68s, while O’Toole also blasted in a 67 and Henseleit bogeyed two of the last four for a 71.
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