Saso pulls away by four shots after a 69

Yuka Saso rattled off five birdies and an eagle in an eight-hole stretch linking both nines as she fired a three-under 69 to pull away by four going to the final round of the girls 15-17 years division play of the IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships at the La Costa Resort and Spa Legends course in Carlsbad, California Thursday.

Reeling back with back-to-back bogeys from No. 3, the 15-year-old Saso recovered her composure to launch a big fightback, birdying Nos. 6 and 7, hitting an eagle on the par-5 ninth then gunning down three more birdies on Nos. 10, 12 and 13 to cushion the impact of her bogey-bogey windup.

With a 210 aggregate, the FilJapanese moved 18 holes closer to the victory in the 48th staging of the event considered as the world’s biggest jungolf event.

Saso missed stretching her lead with a shaky windup where she made her first three putts for the week on No. 17 and failed to rescue a par off the bunker on the finishing hole.

Still, Saso will go into Friday’s final round with a at six-underpar total and a four-shot cushion over Nasa Hataoka of Japan after completing three trips over the water-laced layout hosting the tourney for the first time.

Hataoka, playing alongside Saso in the final flight, was completely outgunned despite a decent round of 71 and was at 214 with Yui Kawamoto, joint leader with Saso after the second round, soared to a 74 and slid to a share of third with Chen Ching-Tzu of Taiwan (72) at 215.

Saso’s solid play made up for the Philippines’ lackluster performance in the lower divisions which ended with only two – Bernice Ilas and Coco Ong – landing in the top 10.