MANILA, Philippines — Philippine ace Yuka Saso opened her campaign in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with a two-under par 69 yesterday for a share of 44th place at the Pinnacle Golf Club in Rogers, Arkansas.
Her two compatriots in the $2.3-million tournament, however, failed to break par with Dottie Ardina carding a one-over 72 and Bianca Pagdanganan submitting a five-over 76.
After taking a month off, Saso gunned down four birdies against two bogeys, and stood six shots off Australia’s Katherine Kirk and Korea’s A Lim Kim and Eun-Hee Ji in the three-day event.
Kirk, Kim and Ji fired 63s to share pole position ahead of American Sarah Burnham (64) at second and Nasa Hataoka of Japan, Lindsey Weaver of the US, Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand, Aditi Ashok of India and Klara Spilkova of the Czech Republic (65) at joint third.