Constantino cards 70, trails Thai by 7

MANILA, Philippines – Harmie Constantino birdied No. 6 on her way home at resumption of the weather-delayed round as she shot a bogey-free 70 but stood seven strokes behind a hot-starting Kusuma Meechai at the start of the SAT-TWT Open Road to World Ranking in Prachin Buri, Thailand Wednesday.

Princess Superal, meanwhile, failed to gain at completion of her round although she rebounded from a mishap on No. 15 with a birdie on the 17th to save a 71 at the Kabin Buri Golf Club course for joint 15th in the early going of the Bt2.5 million championship on the Thailand Women’s PGA calendar.

Constantino, in a rare stint on the Thailand LPGA while building up for next week's resumption of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, birdied the 10th where she teed off but missed to convert a couple of opportunities and settled for pars in the next 11 holes before play was halted due to threats of lightning.

The two-time LPGT leg winner then cashed in on the par-5 sixth at resumption of play late in the day then parred the last three to join four other local aces at 10th.

But Meechai kept his hot form coming off a two-hour delay, birdying the 17th to complete a stirring bogey-free 63 to wrest a two-stroke lead over Arpichaya Yubol and former LPGA Tour campaigner Budsabakorn Sukapan, who matched 65s while Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong, who also used to campaign on the world’s premier ladies circuit and who topped the ladies side in last week’s Thailand Mixed, turned in a 67 to put herself in early contention.

The ICTSI-backed Superal, the newly crowned first Asia Pacific Cup champion who is out to redeem herself from a joint 21st place finish last week, birdied the first hole but fumbled with two bogeys against one more birdie for a 36. She birdied the 10th and parred the next two, missing a chance on the par-5 12th before play was halted.

She failed to get up-and-down on No. 15 at resumption but regained the stroke on the par-5 penultimate hole.

Over in Vietnam, Eric Gallardo struggled with a 74 on a one-birdie, three-bogey card in the first round of BRG Open Championship of the Asian Development Tour provisionally paced by Miguel Delgado of the US at the BRG Da Nang Golf Resort, also Wednesday.

Lloyd Go, who tied for second in last week’s BNI Ciputra ADT in Indonesia which he led in the third round, and Fidel Concepcion started in the afternoon wave and were still playing at presstime.

Teeing off first in the $75,000 tournament, Gallardo parred the first five holes but dropped a stroke on the par-5 sixth, birdied the 11th but bogeyed Nos. 14 and 15 for a pair of 37s on the challenging layout.

Delgado, meanwhile, shot four birdies to negate his bogeys on Nos. 4 and 14, for the early lead in the 54-hole tournament serving as fourth-to-last leg of this year’s ADT, the farm league of the Asian Tour.