Guce makes cut despite 74; Del Rosario, Arevalo fall in Road to LPGA

MANILA, Philippines — Clariss Guce fumbled with a 74 to all but bow out of the title chase in the inaugural Ann Arbor’s Road to the LPGA still led by Pavarisa Yoktuan at the Travis Pointe Country Club in Michigan Friday (Saturday, Manila time).

Eager to recover from a shaky finish in a 70 start Thursday, Guce struggled instead with her long game and iron play but found some relief from her superb putting, ending up with 28 although it proved not enough to save her from dropping from joint 10th to a share of 16th at 144.

The Fil-Am, a two-time winner on the Epson Tour, missed six fairways and hit just half of the 18 greens to fall too far behind at 144, nine strokes behind the Thai, who poised herself for a wire-to-wire victory with a 69 for a 135.

That was two shots ahead of Finland’s Kiira Riihijarvi, who pooled a 137 after matching Yoktuan’s three-under card, while Aussie Grace Kim moved to third at 139 after a 71.

Meanwhile, Pauline del Rosario and fellow ICTSI-backed Abby Arevalo failed to gain in the 54-hole, $200,000 tournament with the former hobbling with a 74 for a 149 and missed the cut by one.

Arevalo added a 77 to her opening 75 and finished way off at 152.

Del Rosario was on her way to posting a big rebound after birdying two of the first six holes against a bogey. But she yielded a stroke on No. 7 and bogeyed Nos. 11, 15 and 16 then birdied the closing par-5 hole in a desperate attempt to salvage a spot in the final round.

It was del Rosario’s second straight missed cut and six in 10 tournaments with her joint 15th finish in the IOA Golf Classic last month her best while Arevalo, who also failed to advance in the Carolina Golf Classic last week, groped for form from the mound to the green, missing eight fairways and 11 greens, although like del Rosario, she made 29 putts.