Shaky putting stymies Ardina's charge in Circling Raven Championship

MANILA, Philippines — Dottie Ardina failed to get the most of her near-impeccable game from tee to green as she grappled with her balky putter all day, settling for a 70 and falling by four shots in a crowded leaderboard after two rounds of the Circling Raven Championship in Worley, Idaho Saturday (Sunday, Manila time).

Ardina missed just one fairway and two greens but ended up with 32 putts, two of which led to bogeys on 4 and 18 that shackled what would’ve been a fine round marked by four straight birdies from No. 14.

But her 37-33 card at Circling Raven Golf Club and a 138 total dropped her to joint 13th with three others, four strokes off Americans Jessica Welch and Jillian Hollis, Aussie Robyn Choi and Korean Hyo Joon Jang, who all pooled 134s to set the stage for a wild chase in the final round of the 54-hole $200,000 championship.

Welch turned in the most explosive round in the day – a seven-under 65 that featured two eagles, including a pitch-in feat on the par-4 No. 5. She also shot five birdies to negate a two-bogey mishap for a 33-32 and a share of the lead.

Choi and Hollis each carded 66s while Jang also hit an eagle on her way to a second straight 67 as the four frontrunners braced for a Sunday shootout.

Aussies Grace Kim and Gabriela Ruffels likewise put themselves into contention with 135s, just one shot back, after a 68 and 69, respectively; Valentina Haupt of Chile and Germany’s Polly Mack shot 68 and 71, respectively, for 136s while four others, including Mexico’s Fernanda Lira, stood at 137s to ensure an exciting, wild finish to the 10th leg of the Epson Tour.

Meanwhile, Clariss Guce battled back from a 74 with a 69 to make the cut at 143 but Abby Arevalo blew a first-round 70 with a 77, marred by a double bogey and three bogeys with no birdie to show, and failed to advance with a 147.

Arevalo, coming off a successful campaign in the LPGA Q-School Stage I, hit all but two fairways but the ICTSI-backed shotmaker struggled on her way to the greens, going out of regulation 10 times. She also finished with 30 putts.

Guce, on the other hand, missed just four fairways and hit 15 greens while ending up with 30 putts for a four-birdie, one-bogey card.

Over in the LPGA Tour, last year’s US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso fell by the wayside for the sixth time in her last nine tournaments, hobbling with a 75 for a 145, five strokes below the cutoff score at the completion of the weather-suspended second round of the CP Women’s Open in Ottawa, Canada.

The Team ICTSI spearhead was well within target after an opening 70 she spiced with four straight birdies in the closing holes Thursday but she fell apart with a quadruple bogey on No. 4 in the second round. She birdied the ninth but holed out with a bogey on the 18th to finish with a three-over card at the par-71 Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club.

Saso also failed to advance in the recent AIG Women’s Open, the season’s last major, after a tied for 24th finish in the Scottish Open.

After a joint 17th place effort in the LA Open last April, the power-hitting ace missed the cut at Palos Verdes, tied for 12th in the Cognizant Founders cup, then made back-to-back early exits in the US Women’s Open and Meijer LPGA Classic.

She tied for 30th in the Women’s PGA, also a major, but missed the cut in the next major, the Evian Championship.

Meanwhile, Hye Jin Choi shot a 66 to tie fellow Korean Narin An, who carded a 68, for the CP Women’s Open lead at 197, one stroke over South African Paula Reto, who pooled a 198 after a 67, while Americans Nelly Korda and Sarah Schmeizel stayed in the hunt with 199s with 66 and 68, respectively.