MANILA, Philippines – Dottie Ardina produced a near-impeccable blend of long game and putting to shoot a four-under 67 but trailed a solid clubhouse leader Arpichaya Yubol of Thailand by five at the start of the IOA Golf Classic at the Alaqua Country Club in Longwood, Florida Friday (Saturday, Manila time).
Play was halted for one hour and 40 minutes due to bad weather with 35 players out of the starting field of 142 unable to finish their respective rounds because of darkness, including the late-starting Abby Arevalo, who had a one-over card with four holes to play at the front.
Those who teed off in the morning wave posted low scores, including Ardina, who hit 11 fairways off a 244-yard driving clip and made up for his 12-of-18 stint to the green with a 25-putt showing on her way to a 32-35 round that earned her a share of fifth place with nine others in the 54-hole, $200,000 championship.
The ICTSI-backed shotmaker highlighted her superb start with a pitch-in eagle on the par-4 No. 7 that came after she birdied the sixth following a birdie-bogey swing from No. 3 of the par-71 layout.
Bianca Pagdanganan, on the other hand, survived a roller-coaster finish to save a 70 for joint 36th with the big-hitting former LPGA Tour campaigner blasting a 290-yard norm off the tee while hitting all but two greens.
She, however, struggled on the tricky surface, ending up with 34 putts.
Pauline del Rosario, meanwhile, missed capping a big frontside rally with a double-bogey on No. 8 and wound up with a 73.
Del Rosario, whose campaign with Pagdanganan and Arevalo is also backed by the world’s leading port operator, rallied from a bogey-double bogey mishap from No. 11 with birdies on Nos. 1, 3 and 5. But she dropped two strokes on the par-4 eighth for a 34-38 and a share of 78th.
Chanelle Avaricio and Filipino-American Clariss Guce limped with a pair of 75s and needed to go low in Saturday’s second round to salvage spots in the final round of the 54-hole event serving as the seventh leg of the LPGA Tour's farm league.
Starting at the back, Avaricio parred the first 11 holes but double bogeyed the par-5 No. 3 and yielded strokes on Nos. 5 and 7 for a 39-36, while Guce, a two-time Epson Tour leg winner, hit one birdie but stumbled with three bogeys and a double bogey on the par-5 No. 16 for a 37-38.
Yubol, winner of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour leg at Manila Golf in 2019, flourished with nine birdies spiked by a pair of three-birdie strings from Nos. 6 and 12 for a pair of 31s off a 24-putt performance.
The Thai ace opened a four-stroke lead over Taiwanese Jessica Peng and Roberta Liti of Italy, who matched 66s, with American Jenny Coleman also posting a five-under card with one hole left to play in the opening round.