Thai ties Saso with fiery 69; Superal falls back after a 73

THAILAND’S Chatprapa Siriprakob fired a three-under-par 69 Thursday and caught Filipino-Japanese amateur Yuka Saso at the top after 36 holes of the P500,000 ICTSI Eagle Ridge Ladies Championship at the Aoki course in Trece Martires, Cavite.

Chatprapa gunned down four birdies and claimed a piece of the lead at 139 with Saso when the 14-year-old first-round leader bogeyed the 17th for a level 72.

Another Thai, Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang, shot a 71 to be two shots behind, with the fancied Princess Superal, the Philippines’ No. 1 amateur, losing valuable ground after starting out bogey-bogey and eventually shooting a 73 for 142.

“I knew I needed a good round to have a shot at the title,” Chatprapa said.

South Korean Kang Ji-won fired a 73 and her amateur compatriot Hwang Min-jeong a 74 to be four shots off the pace going into today’s final 18 holes, where Saso hopes to pull off one solid round and join the ranks of amateur winners on the fledging Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.

Pauline del Rosario, another member of the solid The Country Club team, skied to a 78 and kissed her chances goodbye. She opened with a 69 on Wednesday and, like Superal, started the second round just two shots off Saso.

“I had a hard time targeting the pins on the back nine,” Saso said after her 37-35 round.