Superal bucks wicked wind, trails by 3 with 70

TAIWAN – Forced to go 2-3 clubs over in brutal conditions, Princess Superal survived the day-long ordeal with conservative play and superb putting, finishing strong with a 34 for a 70 yesterday at the start of the Party Golfers Ladies Open at the National Golf Country Club in Miaoli County.

Though she stood three strokes behind local amateur Chia Yen Wu who showed up the elite pro field with a 67, the Filipina ace’s backside charge of 34 was enough to put her in the early mix of the stellar cast given the harsh conditions at the punishing up-and-down layout with only nine players breaking par and five matching par 72.

The starting 105-player field also had to deal with unpredictable surface where flubbed short putts came aplenty, ruining a number of players’ bids in the $100,000 tournament, the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour’s first co-sanctioned event abroad with the Taiwan LPGA backed by ICTSI.

“I didn’t expect to go under given the windy conditions and a bad start. But I was able to adjust in time and hit some solid iron shots and made the putts,” said Superal, who bogeyed the tricky downhill opening hole but tapped in for birdie on the par-5 third which she reached in two.

“I actually had to play it short of the sloping greens since going over would pose more problems and it’s a good thing that I’ve been very consistent with my putting,” said the former US Girls Junior champion, who birdied the 150yard par-3 11th from 10 feet off a 5-iron tee shot and tapped in for birdies on Nos. 13 and 18.

Cyna Rodriguez negated backto-back bogeys with two birdies in the next three holes. She fumbled with three more bogeys against two birdies for a 73 for joint 15th with seven others, six strokes behind Wu, who rammed in four straight birdies from No. 13 on her way to shooting a fiveunder card and grabbing a onestroke lead over Thai Wanchana Poruangrong, who came through with an eagle-spiked 68.

Former LPGT winner Renuka Suksokont sizzled at the front with a 33 for a 69 for joint third with Superal, current TLPGA Order of Merit leader Chen Yu Ju, Taiwanese Yu Pei Lin and Thai Saraporn Langkulgasettrin, also a former LPGT winner.

Mia Piccio limped with a 76, her closing 39 marred by a triplebogey 8 on the par-5 16th off an out-of-bounds drive for joint 48th, just within the top 50 plus ties cutoff line after 36 holes.

Daniella Uy opened with an even par card at the back but struggled at the front and skied to a 41 for a 77 for joint 59th while Marvi Monsalve tottered with a seven-over 79 for a share of 86th.