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Saso maintains first place and ties for 29th place
Dante Navarro (Philstar.com) – September 6, 2020 – 2:08 pm
MANILA, Philippines – Yuka Saso maintained her top spot in the Tour of Japan LPGA rankings despite a tie for 29th at the Golf5 Ladies professional golf tournament ruled by Sakura Koiwai yesterday, closing with a 70 on the course. from Mizunami in Gifu Prefecture in Honshu.
Three birdies in the first six holes in the back where it started and another in no. 2 sparked some hopes of an explosive explosion for the 19-year-old fil-Japanese marvel, a sort of finale that she was unable to complete, however, as she stumbled into bogeys at Nos. 3, 4 and 9 against another birdie in the fifth.
With a total of 212, Saso finished tied for 29th with 10 others, including Ai Suzuki, whose three-win streak late last year the ICTSI-backed ace was aiming to equal after her triumphs at the NEC Karuizawa in Nagano. and Nitori Ladies in Hokkaido. .
But a mediocre par of 71 almost kept her out of the chase for the title at the 54-hole tournament, which Koiwai, whom Saso defeated at Nitori Ladies, won unevenly.
The 22-year-old Koiwai completed a three-day spectacle of brilliant shot and putt, finishing with a 66 no bogey for a 199 of 17 under par and a six-shot victory over Ayaka Furue and Ayaka Watanabe. He fired 18 birdies in total against a lone bogey in the second round to flee with the biggest purse of Y10.8 million in the Y60 million event.
Despite his regular finish worth Y408,000, Saso remained at the top of the Mercedes rankings with total earnings of Y59,448,000, although Earth Mondahmin Cup winner Watanabe placed Y51,620,000 after. to accumulate Y4,740 million. Koiwai also reaffirmed its position in third place with 31,640,000 yuan after pocketing the top bag of 10.8 million yuan.
That could change when the elite cast heads to Okayama for this week’s Japan LPGA Championship, the richest event in the JLPGA short season with a whopping Y300 million ($ 2.8 million) total in total. game. The winner will receive 36 million yuan, which Saso claimed in her Nitori Ladies romp.
After barely making the cut on Saturday, Saso worked his way back to the Top 21 with birdies at numbers 10, 13 and 15 and his fourth birdie from close range at par 5 No. 2 sparked some talk of a fiery finish that has scored several of his closing rounds during his amateur days, most specifically his unlikely comeback of six on the last hole to sweep the gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
But he lost touch and focus in the next two, making a bogey, and even though he birdied the last par 5 at No. 5, Saso holed another green mishap lost to 37-33.
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