Princess Superal 51st, qualifies for Step Up Tour

HYOGO – Princess Superal floundered in chilly conditions and failed to make the grade in the Final Stage of the LPGA of Japan Tour Qualifier, ending up joint 51st with a 74 at the close of the tournament topped by Erina Hara at the Tokyu Grand Oak Golf Club here.

But by hurdling the first three stages of the grueling four-part elims, the 22-year-old Superal is guaranteed of a stint in the Step Up Tour, the farm league of the LPGA of Japan Tour which offers more than 20 tournaments starting in March 2019.

“Though I was disappointed for not being able to make it to the main tour, I’m okay since I’ve already earned a full status for the Step Up Tour, assuring me of 21 tournaments next year,” said the ICTSI-backed Superal, who moved into contention with a two-under 70 in the second round but struggled in cold conditions in the last two days with temperature drastically dropping to 5 degrees in windy morning yesterday.

“It was so cold and I couldn’t hit my shots right,” said Superal, who bogeyed the opening hole and dropped two more shots on Nos. 5 and 8. She birdied the ninth then holed in a six-footer for another birdie on the 12th to negate her fourth bogey on No. 11 but missed a couple of birdie chances the rest of the way to finish with a 38-36.

“After four days, I knew that I can do it but my game didn’t click the way I wanted,” rued Superal, who totaled 290, missing the top 20 plus ties cut by five shots with 12 players finishing tied at 13th at 285.

In Bangkok, Miguel Tabuena fired a seven-under 63, completing a rare 36-hole stint without dropping a shot to trail two-day leader Johannes Veerman of the US  by one in the Queen’s Cup at the Legacy Golf Club yesterday.

Tabuena razed the backside of the par-70 layout with four birdies for the second straight day then bettered his previous frontside output with two more birdies to finish with a 32-31 card at 12-under 128 in the $500,000 event.

Over in Japan, Angelo Que blew a hot start with three straight bogeys from No. 7, ending up with a one-over 71 and slipping to joint 18th in the second round of the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup still paced by YE Yang at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club.

He had a 141 and fell nine shots behind Yang, who shot a 67 for 132.