Saranporn, Lee share lead; Ikeda hangs on

South Korea’s Lee Jeong-hwa and Thailand’s Saranporn Langkulgasettrin took command of the $80,000 ICTSI Philippine Ladies Masters yesterday even as Filipino Chihiro Ikeda remained as the country’s best—and probably last—hope with 18 holes left in the season-ending championship.

Lee carved out the day’s best score, a four-under-par 68, while Langkulgasettrin fired a 69 as the duo wrested control with 36-hole 139s.

Ikeda stayed a stroke behind after a second straight 70.

First-round leader Khanphanitnan Muangkhumsakul scrambled to a 73 on Alabang Country Club’s rock-hard greens to trail by three even as Princess Superal rebounded with a 71 and stayed mathematically in the hunt for the $17,000 champion’s prize at 144.

Taiwanese amateur star Hou Yu-sang also fired a 71 and tied Superal, while Yuka Saso, the local amateur hotshot, returned a 69 to be seven adrift.

The other big guns continued to struggle, with Taiwan LPGA Order of Merit leader Lin Tzu-chi shooting a 73 to all but bow out of the title race at 148.

Dottie Ardina, bound to play 10 to 15 tournaments in the US LPGA next year, shot a 76 to be 10 off, with Mia Piccio, the Bacolod native who opened up with a level 72 on Wednesday, soaring to a 78 to be another shot behind.

Pauline del Rosario ballooned to a 79, and the heir apparent to Superal as the Philippine Team spearhead fell 13 strokes behind like Cyna Rodriguez, the LPGA veteran, who followed up a 75 with a 77.

Lee, the winner of the first two international legs of the local circuit at Splendido and Southwoods, gunned down five birdies against a bogey, while Langkulgasettrin hit three of her first birdies in her final seven holes to catch Lee at the top.

“I putted great today,” Lee said. “My goal is to shoot a five-under [today] to assure a victory.”

The tricky layout did not allow Ikeda the same pleasure of being bogey-free like in the first round, but the former Southeast Asian Games gold medalist shot five birds in a 36-34 effort.