Saso still sizzling, leads by 1

Yuka Saso

Yuka Saso sustained her fiery form last week, carding a two-under-par 70 Wednesday to post a one-shot lead over reigning titlist Bianca Pagdanganan and four others in the 2018 Champion Infinity Philippine Ladies Open at Orchard Golf and Country Club in Cavite.

The Filipino-Japanese was hounded by poor putting in the early going at the backside of the Palmer layout, muffing three birdie chances, but hit birdies on Nos. 18, 1, 2 and 7 to compensate for missed green bogeys on the third and eighth.

“The greens were difficult to read, there were putts that I thought would have gone in. But that’s golf. I just have to putt better tomorrow (Thursday) to get a good score,” said Saso, who’s gunning for a second straight crown after humbling the pros in the ICTSI Ayala Greenfield Ladies Challenge, the kickoff leg of the 2018 Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, last Friday.

Pagdanganan also struggled on the unpredictable surface and had two three-putts and a missed-green bogey but came up with four birdies to tally a 71 with Harmie Constantino, Mikha Fortuna, Isabella Leung of Hong Kong and Phannarai Meeson-us of Thailand.

“I kept misreading the greens,” said Pagdanganan. —ROY LUARCA