Del Rosario pads Orchard lead to 2 strokes

Rookie pro Pauline del Rosario suffered a late mental lapse, settled for a 74, but still padded her lead to two strokes over Thai Nemittra Juntanaket in the second round of the ICTSI Orchard Ladies Invitational at Orchard’s Player course in Dasmariñas, Cavite, Thursday.

One-up over Thai Pannapa Polnamin and two other locals with a 73 Wednesday, Del Rosario birdied the first two holes but cooled down just as quickly with a bogey on No. 3 and parred the next 12 holes.

She took another bogey on No. 16 then took a two-stroke penalty after Polnamin complained that she teed off outside the No. 17 box.

“I knew I was actually inside [the box] but decided not to contest it,” said Del Rosario, adding that Sarah Ababa, the other player in the group, didn’t see where she hit her drive and couldn’t back her up.

Still, her 35-39 card and 147 proved enough to put Del Rosario two shots ahead of Juntanaket, who fired the tournament-best 70 for 149.

Polnamin skied to a 79 on a closing 41 and tumbled to joint eighth with Ababa (79) at 153, six shots off the pace.

Chihiro Ikeda blew her title-retention bid with an 81 and 155, the same total posted by Thai Numa Gulyanamitta (75).

“I actually had a great game today (Thursday) compared to the first round where I struggled on the greens,” said Del Rosario.

Juntanaket clawed back from seven down with three birdies in the first five holes, dropped two shots on Nos. 6 and 10, but birdied the 11th to finish with a 34-36.

Amateur Eagle Ace Superal turned in a wild 72 to move to joint third with Indonesian Jessica Lydia (75) at 150. —ROY LUARCA