Saso shrugs off Major blow

MANILA, Philippines – While she grappled with her driver majority of the way, Yuka Saso said it was her tussle with her putter in the last two rounds that stymied her first crack at a major championship in the LPGA of Japan Tour.

The stats told it all.

After an impressive 26-putt stint in her opening 68 and another 28 in the next kept her just two strokes off the pace in the rich Japan LPGA Championship in Okayama, Saso lost her focus and touch on the undulating, tricky surface of the JFE Setonaikai Golf Club course in the pivotal third round, flubbing putts that she normally makes.

She actually stayed within two off third round leader Yuna Nishimura despite a 30-putt effort but the Fil-Japanese and two-leg JLPGA winner blew it all when it mattered most — hobbling with 34 putts in the last 18 holes.

Consequently, she turned from a major contender into a minor competitor the rest of the way, tumbling from joint second to a share of 13th in the circuit’s first major event ruled by Sakl Nagamine.

“I sometimes got frustrated when I read the putting line differently,” said Saso, referring to the crucial third round where she blew at least six makeable birdie putts, including two inside four feet.

Banking on her near-impeccable iron game, Saso also squandered a number of chances on the green in the final round that saw her turn in her worst round (76) thus far in an otherwise impressive campaign in the region’s most lucrative circuit.

But the ICTSI-backed ace, who ended up hitting just 24 out of 56 fairways, took her rather disappointing finish in stride, saying it’s part of the learning process even as she vowed to do better the next time out.

“Putting didn’t go as I expected (in the fourth round),” said Saso, who kicked off her campaign with a joint fifth place effort at the Earth Mondahmin Cup in Chiba last June, swept the next two legs — NEC Karuizawa in Nagano and Nitori Ladies in Hokkaido — last month before struggling to finish joint 29th in Golf5 Ladies in Honshu two weeks ago.

“But that’s golf,” she added. “Even if you’re depressed, you don’t have to show it. The season is still long.”

That should make her not only A-ready but doubly hungry for the Desant Ladies Tokai Classic starting Friday in Aichi where she expects to slug it out with the likes of the in-form Nagamine and Golf5 Ladies titlist Sakura Koiwai and Nishimura along with LPGA Tour campaigner Momoko Ueda, Serena Aoki, Chie Arimura, Lee-Min Young, Na-Ri Lee, Aoi Onishi, Ayako Kimura, Rhiru Shibusawa, Teresa Lu, Earth Mondahmin Cup winner Ayaka Watanabe and 16-time JLPGA champion Ai Suzuki are also both going flat out for redemption after missing the cut last week.