No end in sight to Saso's woes as she misses cut in Evian Championship

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso missed the cut for the second time in a major this year – and fourth in her last six LPGA events – in an alarming slide for a player who once looked ready to conquer women’s pro golf following a major breakthrough last year.

Expecting to make a charge in an early tee-toff and sustain the momentum of her fiery frontside windup that saved her a 71 in a late start Thursday at the Evian Championship, Saso found the going a lot tougher, making two bogeys against a birdie in the first nine holes. 

Running out of chances to at least survive the cut, she fumbled even more with bogeys on Nos. 13 and 17 on mishits and missed putts and headed to the early exit again.

Not even a closing birdie off a bold second shot from way out to near the greenside hazard could save last year’s US Women’s Open champion’s week as she finished with a 73 for a 144, two strokes below the cutoff score.

In contrast, Brooke Henderson stayed in hot form at the Evian layout, matching her opening 64 with another seven-under feat to storm past Nelly Korda by three on a 128 total heading to the last 36 holes of the $6.5 million championship.

Korda, in a flight with Saso and French Celine Boutier, had held the lead with a birdie-eagle windup for a 67 and a 131 but the Canadian ace came charging home in the afternoon wave with three straight birdies to wrest a lead big enough to cushion the impact of her pursuers’ expected charge given the course’s near-ideal conditions.

Koreans Sei Young Kim and So Yeon Ryu fired 65 and 66, respectively, for joint third at 133, five strokes behind, while Americans Andrea Lee and Sophia Schuber matched 65s, and Korean Hyo Joo Kim and Thai Atthaya Thithiul carded a 66 each as they assembled identical 134s for a share of fifth.

After winning the world’s most prestigious major crown in San Francisco, the future seemed to look bright for the Fil-Japanese shotmaker, who gained a career-best No. 5 ranking in the world in Oct. 2021 and earned a five-year exempt status on the LPGA following her major exploits.

Although she failed to score a follow-up to her US Women's Open feat, Saso did turn in four top five finishes in 2021 and posted sixth place and third place efforts in the first two LPGA events this year.

But a missed cut in the LPGA Drive On ended a long run of weekend appearances for the former Team Philippines’ spearhead who switched citizenship at the start of the new season, and somewhat started a run of so-so campaigns that led to more cuts in the Founders Cup, the US Women’s Open and the Meijer Classic.

During that skid, she could only post a tied for 12th finish as her best result.

After a long break following a tied for 30th finish in the last major, the Women’s PGA Championship, Saso had looked forward to a strong showing this week as she fought back from an early four-over round with four birdies in the last 10 holes to salvage an even par-71 course Thursday.

But Saso, who has dropped to world No. 20, grappled with her shots and putting all day, missing six fairways and five greens and ending up with 32 putts. A noted bunker player, she also failed to rescue pars from the sand twice.