Superal pulls away by 11, nears crown

MANILA, Philippines - Princess Superal dished out a near-flawless round of two-under 70 and pulled away from the field with a whopping 11-stroke lead in the second round of the 100 Plus Malaysian Junior Open Golf Championship at the Saujana Golf and Country Club in Malaysia late Thursday.

Superal, who opened a two-shot lead over Malaysian Asha Lakshme with a shaky 72 Wednesday, bucked a three-putt bogey mishap on No. 9 with birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 18 inside six feet, then watched her rivals struggle on tough pin placements to storm unassailably ahead at 142.

“I’m just taking it one hole at a time,” said the 15-year-old Superal. “It’s great to be able to return a low score at this course, which is one of the most challenging golf courses in Malaysia.”

“Her shotmaking was superb. She could’ve scored lower but her putting didn’t work as much as she wanted to,” said ICTSI team ladies coach Carmelette Villaroman.

The former Philippine Ladies Open champion added that Superal misread five makeable birdie putts inside five feet.

Still, the 70 was enough to put her way out in front with the 15-year-old find poised to keep Team ICTSI’s winning streak the last four weeks.

With Lakshme limping with an 82 and tumbling to fourth at 156, fellow Malaysian Genevieve Ling took the challenger’s role but had a lot of catching up to do at 153 after a 77 heading to the last 18 holes of the annual event which drew the leading junior players from the Asia Pacific region.

Nur Durriyah also skied with a 78 and lay 12 strokes behind Superal at 154.

The ICTSI-The Country Club team has been on a surge after Jayvie Agojo nipped Malaysian Kelly Tan in the countback to capture the Santi Cup individual crown in Indonesia last month. Cyna Rodriguez then edged Agojo to win the Hong Kong Ladies Amateur title the following week before Dottie Ardina took the Taiwan Amateur diadem last week.