Malixi falls seven behind despite a 69

Rianne Malixi guns down three birdies against a bogey in round one. —R&A PHOTO

The Philippines’ Rianne Malixi lost significant ground in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship despite firing a second round three-under-par 69 at Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand on Friday as the solid Chun-Wei Wu of Chinese-Taipei shot a flawless 65.

Malixi, who won a tournament in Australia last month, battled allergies in the morning wrestled with a balky putter in her closing holes to settle for a 35-34 and a 139 aggregate, trailing overnight leader Wu now by seven shots with 36 holes left in the region’s premier championship.

“I left a couple of holes out there. I was a bit dizzy when I woke up,” she said. “I had a sore throat and kept sneezing. I am not sick, though, just the allergies.”Wu was bogey-free in carving out her round that was highlighted by three straight birdies from No. 16 to lead Japan’s Hinano Murguruma by a stroke. Muguruma returned a 66 in the morning wave.

Korean Hyosong Lee fired a 66 while Thai Pimpisa Rubrong put in a 68 to be at 136, four strokes off the pace.Eila Galitsky of Thailand, who started the day tied for the lead with Wu and another Thai in Navaporn Soontreeyapas, skied to a 75 marred by a closing double bogey to noe be 10 shots off. Soontreeyapas, meanwhile, had a 71 to be six adrift.

Malixi held her ground against world No. 4 Minsol Kim of Korea and reigning Queen Sirikit Cup champion Avani Prashanth of India for the second straight day as she birdied Nos. 4, 7 and 9 to make up for her consecutive bogeys from No. 5.The ICTSI-backed shotmaker then gained strokes on Nos. 11 and 12, but stumbled with a bogey on the 15th after driving into the fairway bunker and coming up short off the green.

Despite a big recovery on the 16th, her putting woes on the last two holes cost her potential strokes that could’ve bolstered her chances heading into the weekend play of the event where she tied for 13th in last year’s edition in Singapore.

Earlier, Grace Quintanilla produced a 70 for a two-under 142 and safely made the cut at 146, joining Galitsky and five others at 23rd.