Late mishap drops Superal to joint lead in Thai LPGA Championship

MANILA, Philippines – Princess Superal took control midway through but faltered at the finish, slipping to a share of lead with Kongkraphan Patcharajutar with a rollercoaster 72 in the second round of the sixth Thai LPGA Championship at the Singha Park Golf Club in Khon Kaen, Thailand Thursday.

Wad Phaewchiplee, who went 2-up over Superal after 18 holes, stayed in command on a backside start until she fell with a thud on a bogey-double-bogey-double-bogey skid from No. 15. She never recovered and limped with a 79.

Starting at the front, Superal surged ahead with a two-birdie, one-bogey card at the turn and clung on to it as she bounced back from a bogey on No. 13 with a birdie on the next but failed to get up-and-down on the par-3 17th and ended up with a 35-37 for a four-under 140 overall.

That also enabled Patcharajutar to seize a piece of it with a 70 on a three-birdie, one-bogey round while Soisuwan Onkanok, a former winner on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, Chaiyasith Chonnikarn and Wannasiri Sirisampant pooled 140s after 70, 72 and 73, respectively.

With P. Parinda and L. Mookharin assembling 143s after a 69 and 73, a wild chase is expected in the final 18 holes of the B1.2 million championship serving as the seventh leg of the Thai LPGA Tour.

But the smooth-swing ICTSI-backed Superal is unfazed by her Thai rivals although she stressed the need to stay focused all throughout to finally nail the win after losing in sudden death to Aunchisa Utama in the fourth Thai LPGA Championship last month.

The former US Girls’ Junior champion also tied for ninth in the Pattaya Ladies Open topped by Chanettee Wannasan last April, finished third in the third Thai LPGA Championship, also last month, and wound up fourth in the fifth Thai LPGA Championship two weeks ago.

Phaewchiplee, meanwhile, tumbled from first to joint 12th with a 145.