Superal 3 adrift after 69

MANILA, Philippines – Princess Superal put on another strong start she hopes to sustain in the next two days, shooting a three-under 69 and trailing Japanese Rie Iwahashi by three in the opener of the San-in Joint Bank Duo Card Women at the Oyama Plain Golf Club in Tottori Prefecture in Honshu, Japan Wednesday.

Superal birdied Nos. 1, 9 and 7 and scrambled to save par three times and preserve a bogey-free 34-35 card for joint fourth with Keiko Sasaki and Seungji Han, three shots off a hot-starting Iwahashi, whose 66, spiked by a four-birdie binge from No. 10, netted her a two-stroke lead over Aya Kinoshita and Ayaka Morioka, who fired identical 68s.

The Filipina ace is actually reeling from a disastrous 75 in the final round of the Daikure Ladies Cup, which she led last week in Hiroshima, ending up at joint 16th. But she vowed to make up for that foldup in the 54-hole tournament offering a prize fund of Y20 million (around P9.8 million).

Over in Taiwan, Chihiro Ikeda and Daniella Uy slug it out with the top guns from the LPGA of Taiwan (TLPGA) and a slew of Thai aces in the TLPGA and Royal Open which gets going today (Friday) at the Royal Kuan-Hsi Golf Club in Taiwan.

Ikeda drew the likes of Hong Kong’s Isabella Leung, local ace Tzu Chi Lin and Thai Nathikam Raksachat while Uy clashes with Thai Ananya Vitayakonkomol and Taiwanese and former Ladies Phl Golf Tour leg winner Ching Huang and amateur Chia Yen Wu.

Ikeda and Uy will be trying to reclaim the crown which absentee Pauline del Rosario won in 2017 to become the first Filipina to win on the TLPGA.