Sirikit bets now third, 17 off SK

SINGAPORE—Dottie Ardina bounced back with a 71 and Jayvie Agojo managed a 76 as Team ICTSI-Philippines moved up a notch to third, 17 shots behind runaway leader South Korea after the second round of the Queen Sirikit Cup at the Tanah Merah Country Club yesterday.

The Koreans assembled a nine-under-par 135 in windy conditions, way ahead of  the Filipinos’ second straight 147, which was the same card of the second-placed Australians who trailed by 15 shots with their 292 total.

Lovelynn Guioguio closed with a 42 and didn’t count for the second straight day with a 78 for the Filipinos, who were two strokes off the Australians.

Kim Hyo-joo, beaten by Ardina to clinch the individual plum last year, birdied the first five holes at the Garden course and went on to finish with a 65. Baek Kyu-jung backed her up with a 70.

With a 134 total, Kim stormed ahead by eight shots  in the individual competition.  Australian Whitney Hillier (72) and world No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand (73) shared second at 142 while Baek and teammate Chae Yun-park had 145 and 146, respectively.

Ardina, the defending champion, and Agojo posted 147 identical totals that  dropped them to joint sixth in the individual race heading into the final round of the 54-hole tournament among 13 Asia Pacific nations.

“It was tough at the back with Dottie blowing a two-under card with a final-hole bogey and Jayvie needing to fight for pars in the last four holes,” said ICTSI team coach Bong Lopez.

“The Koreans were simply awesome. They’ve been always like that, attacking in the second round, but we will fight to at least duplicate our runner-up finish in India last year.”