Amateur Yuka Saso birdied four of the last six holes in stirring fashion to fire a four-under 67 and wrest a two-stroke lead over Taiwanese pros Chang Ching-Ling and Chen Hsuan at the start of the ICTSI Manila Golf Ladies Classic at the Manila Golf Club inside Forbes Park yesterday.
The 17-year-old Saso shook off a bogey on the third hole with a birdie on the next then broke a run of pars with a sizzling windup that shoved the reigning Asian Games gold medalist to the top of the heap of the $100,000 event hosted by the MGC for the first time in the seventh season of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.
Yuka Saso
Back-to-back birdies from No. 13 sparked that fiery finish with the Fil-Japanese shotmaker birdying the water-laced par-3 16th and the closing par-5 hole to break off a tight bunch and find herself the solo leader coming off an impressive joint third place effort in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in Georgia over the weekend.