SYMETRA Tour campaigners Dottie Ardina and Mia Piccio try to foil the foreigners’ bid to sweep the two-leg ICTSI Champion Tour presented by Champion and Taiwan LPGA Tour at Manila Southwoods’ Legends course starting tomorrow in Carmona, Cavite.
With LPGA Tour mainstay Cyna Rodriguez and amateur ace Princess Superal skipping this week’s $75,000 championship to honor previous playing commitments abroad, Ardina and Piccio will take up the cudgels for the embattled local side which took a beating in last week’s ICTSI Champion Tour at Splendido.
Korean Lee Jeong-hwa nipped Japanese Fumika Kawagishi by one shot to top the tournament, which also served as the kickoff leg of this year’s ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour and the fifth stage of the Taiwan LPGA.
The duo are again tipped to slug it out for this week’s title and the top $15,000 purse.
Lee and Kawagishi turned the Splendido leg into a two-player affair with Superal emerging as the top local finisher in a tie for third with Thai Kanphanitnan Muangkhumaskul and Taiwanese Chen Yu-ju. The trio finished six strokes behind Lee.
Piccio wound up joint ninth while Ardina, winner of three LPGT events, ended up 11th.
The other top Filipino bidders are LPGT winners Jayvie Agojo and Sarah Ababa and former SEA Games gold medalist Chihiro Ikeda.