Saso sputters with 72, falls to 48th in Scottish Open

MANILA, Philippines — Yuka Saso failed to gain on moving day as the winds picked up and the unpredictable Dundonald Links surface continued to bedevil her game, finishing with a 72 and dropping to joint 48th in the Scottish Open now jointly led by Lydia Ko and Celine Boutier in Ayrshire, Scotland Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Saso, who birdied three of the last five holes at the front to save a 71 and make the cut Friday, cranked up her long game in an attempt to give herself good chances for second shots on the long holes and approaches on the par-4s. 

She missed just three greens but couldn’t make the putts, ending up with 34 for a pair of 36s that featured three birdies, including on the last hole, against the same number of bogeys.

From a share of 40th, the ICTSI-backed shotmaker, who hit 10 fairways on a 283-yard driving norm, slipped eight spots farther back at 213, now 12 strokes behind Ko and Boutier, who matched 201s for a one-stroke lead over Canada’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc and Germany’s Leonie Harm,

Boutier poised herself to snapping a slew of so-so finishes with a 67 spiked by a five-birdie binge in a seven-hole stretch from No. 3 as she caught up Ko on top after the Kiwi ace scrambled for a four-birdie, three-bogey card and a 71 after dominating the stellar field and the windy course with back-to-back 65s.

But Leblanc also moved into strong contention – and on course for back-to-back wins by the Canadians after Brooke Henderson topped last week's Evian Championship – with a 66 while Harm fired a 67 spiked by four birdies in the last five holes at the back for 202s with Korean Eun Hee Ji and Lilia Vu of the US just another stroke back at 203s after a 70 and 71.

Cheyenne Knight, also of the US, and Thai Wichanee Meechai assembled identical 204s after a 67 and 70, while Japanese Ayaka Furue and Nasa Hataoka matched 68s and Koreans Narin An and Hyo Joo Kim shot a 69 and 70, respectively, for 205s, setting the stage for a wild Sunday (Monday, Manila) finish in the $2 million event serving as tune-up for next week’s AIG Women’s Open, the season’s final major, at Muirfield.

Saso has been trying to check a skid that had last year’s US Women’s Open champion missing the weekend play three times in her last four tournaments, including two majors – US Women’s Open and Evian Championship.

And though she made the cut this week, she was far from being in top form, missing shots and putts she would normally make and finding herself out of the conversation again.