Yuka Saso birdied her opening hole but it turned out to be just one of her few good shots in the third round Saturday as she scrambled for a 73 to bow out of the title race in the Japan Women’s Open.
Her birdie on the opening par-5 No. 1 hole sparked hopes of another explosive round after coming through with a 70 Friday highlighted by a birdie-eagle feat.
Too bad, it did not happen as the 19-year-old Fil-Japanese tumbled with bogeys on Nos. 7 and 9, leading to a roller-coaster showing the rest of the way that saw her trail new leader Erika Hara by 12 strokes now.
Though she was able to birdie Nos. 10 and 12, Saso, who finished tied for 13th in the JLPGA Championship Minolta Cup in Okayama last month, squandered her efforts with back-to-back bogeys from No. 14 for a 37-36 and a 54-hole haul of 216 for joint 25th.
Hara fired a 66 for a 204 total, moving 18 holes away from nailing a major trophy after scoring her maiden victory in the Resort Trust Ladies via playoff in Shizuoka last year.
Sakura Koiwai, who led Hara by 3 shots at the start of the round, also birdied the opening hole but fell off the leaderboard with two bogeys and a double-bogey in the next eight holes for a 208.
Three strokes back at 211 were Sumika Nakasone, who fired the day’s lone bogey-free 65 to jump from a share of 40th to joint third with Kokone Yoshimoto (69), Momoko Ueda (70), Lala Anai (70) and Miki Sakai (71).
Over in Florida, Dottie Ardina earned a spot in the final 36 holes of the Symetra Classic paced by the troika of Ana Belac of Slovenia, Peiyun Chien of Taiwan and Aussie Robyn Choi in Daytona Beach despite shooting a 72.
Ardina, who shot a 69 Thursday, leaned on her impressive short game to make the cut although her 141 aggregate put her way behind the leaders going to the weekend play.
She’s fine-tuning for next week’s LPGA major, the Women’s PGA Championship in Pennsylvania.
Ardina was tied by Fil-Am Clarris Guce and six others at 33rd place. Guce spiked her round with an eagle on the 18th hole.