Korean rallies with 69
Hwang bucked windy play and tough pin placements and birdied Nos. 14, 15 and 17 for the second straight day to save a 35-34
LIPA CITY — Korean Hwang Min-Jeong charged back from four shots down with three birdies in the last five holes to card a 69 and catch Thai Nemittra Juntanaket at the helm, setting up a final round shootout for The Women’s Championship at Summit Point crown here.
Hwang bucked windy play and tough pin placements and birdied Nos. 14, 15 and 17 for the second straight day to save a 35-34 while pouncing on Juntanaket’s flubbed par-putt from three feet on No. 15 to force a tie at seven-under 137 after the Thai ace slowed down with a 71 after a fiery opening 66.
Tiranan Yoopan, also from Thailand, shot a 70 and snared a spot in the championship flight with a 139 while Chihiro Ikeda and defending champion Yupapron Kawinpakorn matched 70s again for 140s, just three strokes off the joint leaders heading to the final round of the P750,000 championship put up by ICTSI.
Supakchaya Pattanakrueang stayed in the hunt with a 35 start, but fell with a thud with a bogey on No. 10 and a quadruple bogey on the par-4 11th on a couple of errant shots.
The Luisita leg winner last year ended up with a 76 and dropped to joint sixth at 142 with fellow Thai Ajira Nualraksa, who matched par 72, now five shots behind.
Samantha Dizon, meanwhile, birdied the last hole to salvage a 72 for solo eighth at 146 as she zeroed in on the low amateur honors after erstwhile frontrunner Eagle Ace Superal skied to an 80 for a 152.
After 10 players broke par in the first day, the Robert Trent Jones-designed layout, which features 18 of the world’s renowned golf holes, yielded just five under-par cards in tough conditions, including Hwang, whose late charge put the 2018 Philippine Amateur Open champion on track for a second crown after beating Princess Superal at Splendido to mark her pro debut last January.
Centro Escolar University (CEU) secured a spot in the playoffs following a 120-84 domination of iWalk in the Philippine Basketball Association D-League Foundation Cup yesterday at JCSGO Gym.
Despite the absence of head coach Derrick Pumaren, the Scorpions waged a fiery rally right at the get-go to bury the Chargers with 65 points in the first half.
Maodo Diouf delivered a strong double-double performance of 29 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists and five blocks while skipper Rich Guintaran chipped in 21 markers for the Scorpions, who drew 17 points and nine assists from Kurt Sunga.
“Well, actually, we really wanted to win because this team is only two and one so we know that if we let them have a tied record, we’ll have a hard tin in the next round,” said assistant coach Gabby Velasco.
“It’s not really a perfect game as we gave up so many three-pointers in the third quarter. We still need to check our defense.”
But defense was hardly a problem for the Scorpions.
They opened the second quarter with an oozing rally, turning a 33-24 deficit into 42-24 spread. Then, they swelled the lead to as many as 39 points, 116-77 as Diouf terrorized the paint, highlighted by a breakaway slam with 2:37 left in the game.