Saso blows hot start, falls 7 shots off Thitikul in BMW Ladies Championship

MANILA, Philippines – Yuka Saso nearly put to naught a fiery three-birdie start with a shaky backside stint but holed out with a birdie to card a two-under 70, seven strokes behind a hot-starting Thai ace Atthaya Thitikul after 18 holes of the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea Thursday.

The in-form Thitikul, who scored a breakthrough in NW Arkansas Championship last month and placed fourth and tied for eighth in her next two LPGA events, razed the 6,647-yard Oak Valley Country Club course with seven birdies and spiked her sparkling 32-31 card with a pitch-in eagle on the par-4 No. 13 for a 63.

She surged past local amateur Minsol Kim, who found herself on top of a stellar international field with a 64 she laced with a frontside 30 featuring four straight birdies from No. 3, until Thitikul came with her solid nine-under round in one of the late flights.

Earlier, Saso looked headed to dominating the par-72 layout by birdying the first three holes but flubbed a couple of chances and failed to get up-and-down on Nos. 12 and 13 before cashing in on the par-5 closing hole to post a 33-37 card.

She grabbed a share of 19th but the ICTSI-backed ace fell seven strokes behind Thitikul in the $2 million championship serving as the fourth-to-last event of this year’s LPGA culminating in the CME Group Tour Championship on Nov. 17-20 in Naples, Florida.

Korean major champion A Lim Kim shot a 66 for joint third with American Andrea Lee and Yaeeun Hong, also from the host country, while Kiwi Lydia Ko, Alison Lee and Lilia Vu of the US matched 68s for a share of sixth.

Ko, who nipped compatriot Hee Jeong Lim in sudden death here last year, came out flat and limped with an uncharacteristic 80 marred by a quintuple bogey 10 on the par-5 18th.