Pinay golfers slip to 4th, Thais pull away

INCHEON, South Korea – Thailand took a commanding seven-stroke lead over host Korea in team competition while the Philippines slid to fourth on a faltering finish by Princess Superal, Pauline del Rosario and Mia Legaspi in the halfway mark of the Asian Games golf competitions yesterday at the Dream Park Country Club.

Sukapan Budsakabakom proved as calm as the gentle breeze on the course on an island outside the city limits, hitting a day best 67 after a 68 the other day, while Niphatsophon Benyapa, who didn’t count with a 73 in the first round, fired a 69.

That gave the Thais a 136 for the day – not counting the 72 of Sangchan Supamas – and 271 after two rounds of the women’s team competition.

Korea had 138-278 for second while China was running third with 141-282.

The Philippines scored a 145 for 284 on the 72 of Legaspi and either one of the 73s of Superal and Del Rosario.

Sukapan had a two-round aggregate of 138 for a two-shot edge over Korean Gyeol Park (67) and Japanese Katsumi Minami (69) in individual play.

Legaspi and Superal had 142 each, four shots adrift, while Del Rosario was way off the pace with 151.

In men’s play, the team of Justin Rafael Quiban, Rupert Zaragosa, Kristoffer Arevalo and Raymart Tolentino remained at ninth with 439, 31 shots behind Chinese Taipei (408). Pan Cheng Tsung, (69), Yu Chun An (66) and Kao Teng (66) collected 203 for what appeared to be an irreversible lead as host Korea trailed by seven shots with 415 and Thailand was behind by nine at 417.

In the individual competition, Korean Youm Eunho remained in front with 66-133, followed by Tsung (135) and Mane Udayan of India (136).

Quiban was the best Filipino scorer with 145, followed by Zaragosa (146), Arevalo (152) and Tolentino (154).