Thais scorch Summit with 66s, lead by 2

LIPA City, Batangas – Another shaky start could lead to another solid finish as Nemittra Juntanaket bucked an opening double-bogey with a cluster of birdies and found herself sharing the lead with fellow Thai Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang at the start of The Women’s Championship at Summit Point here.

Juntanaket actually missed grabbing the solo lead with a bogey on the 17th and a flubbed birdie putt from eight feet on the last hole but her 31-35 card spoke well of the caliber of the player who had seemed to flourish after each faulty start.

“The course is great and very easy to manage,” said Juntanaket, who also made a triple-bogey to open her campaign at Mount Malarayat last week but bounced back to salvage a 72 on her way to winning the event by six for her first LPGT triumph and second career win.

But the 22-year-old ace from Pha-Yao made a more stunning, if early rebound at the par-72 course which features 18 of the world’s best golf holes yesterday, racking up six straight birdies from No. 2 and finishing with four more against two bogeys.

For her part, Pattaranakrueang put in a fiery windup of six birdies in the last nine holes for a 36-30 round and a piece of first day honors that lined her up for a crack at the second Ladies Philippine Golf Tour crown following her maiden romp at Luisita last year.

Sharing the day’s spotlight was Yoopan, who aced the 157-yard No. 6 with an 8-iron Callaway EP using a Titleist ProV1 ball that went with her two birdies against a lone bogey for solo fifth at 69.

Korean Hwang Min-Jeong and another Thai Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro shot a pair of 68s for joint third while Chihiro Ikeda, Ajira Nualraksa and defending champion Yupaporn Kawinpakorn carded identical 70s in a first day battle marred by early drizzle and ended in scorching condition.

“I mishit my approach shot on No. 1 and it went into the water. But I was able to recover again and my putting clicked,” added Juntanaket.

Coming off a missed cut stint in the LPGA of Taiwan, Pattaranakrueang was more than satisfied with her impressive start she anchored on superb putting then said she would rather play it smart tomorrow and stay focused on the task at hand.

“My game is great compared to last week in Taiwan. I missed just three fairways and two greens and my putting had been very good,” said Pattaranakrueang, who nipped Cyna Rodriguez in playoff to snare the Luisita crown last year.

“Tomorrow I will just play my game and try to control myself and be not too aggressive but smart,” added Pattaranakrueang, who made the turn with a mediocre one-birdie, one-bogey card but got into the groove and birdied Nos. 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 17.

Sangkagaro and Hwang hit five birdies each to negate their bogeys on the par-5 16th as they stayed in the mix after finishing second and joint third, respectively, last week in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

Ikeda, winner at Midlands last May, birdied the first two holes but failed to sustain her charge, ending up with two bogeys against two more birdies.

Kawinpakorn, who beat amateur LK Go by three here last year, settled for a bogey 35-35 while Nualraksa, who shared third place with Hwang last week, missed joining the Korean and Sangkagaro at third with two bogeys in the last three holes.

Eagle Ace Superal matched par 72 and stood behind pros Thai Saraporn Chamchoi and Pamela Mariano, who carded identical 71s, to launch her bid for a second straight low amateur honors in the event backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT, Empire Golf and Sports and M.Y. Shokai Technology, Inc.