Saso falters with 73, falls behind by 10

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso struggled trying to sustain a hot frontside windup Thursday, hobbling with a double bogey and a bogey against two birdies, her one-over 73 dropping her from joint sixth to a share of 16th and way off an in-form Brooke Henderson halfway through the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Championship in Orlando, Florida Friday.

Brimming with confidence after closing out the first round with a three-birdie binge to hack out a 70, Saso actually got to three-under overall with a birdie on the par-3 No. 5. But a couple of errant shots led to a double-bogey on the next and after picking up another stroke on the par-5 11th, the 2021 US Women’s Open champion yielded another stroke on the 15th and finished with a 37-36.

With a 143 aggregate, the ICTSI-backed shotmaker fell 10 strokes off Henderson, who rode on a fiery four-birdie salvo from No. 2 to fire a solid 66 and pull away by four shots over Nelly Korda with an 11-under 133 total.

Korda put in a 69 for a 137 while Charley Hull and Taiwanese Wei-Ling Hsu matched outputs for the second straight day (69) to remain at joint third at 138 in the all-winners tournament serving as the kickoff leg of this year’s LPGA Tour.

Saso settled for a 261-yard driving norm but still missed five fairways. She also wrestled with her irons and missed six greens and finished with 31 putts.

But she expects to rebound in the pivotal round although Henderson looked poise to dominating the 29-player event with her stellar play, giving up just one stroke while hitting 12 birdies in the first 36 holes.

Meanwhile, Mardy Fish scored 41 Stableford points to storm past Annika Sorenstam after two rounds of the 54-hole celebrity competition spicing up the $1.5 pro tournament.

Fish now has 78 points, nine ahead of Sorenstam, who slowed down from a 39 with a 30 for a 69 to drop to joint second with Chad Pfeiffer, who shot 37 points.