Ardina cards 70 to finish joint 11th

MANILA, Philippines – Dottie Ardina shot a two-under 70 to finish tied for 11th in the Island Resort Championship won by Thai Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphon at Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris, Michigan Sunday.

Ardina, 22, made three birdies to negate a bogey mishap on No. 17 as she finished the 54-hole tournament with a one-under 215 that included an opening 75 and a second round 70. She took home $2,358.

Santiwiwatthanaphon closed out with a 69 to pool a 210 and beat American Jackie Stoelting, Swede Madelene Sagstrom and Taiwanese Peiyun Chien by two. Stoelting had a 70 while Sagstrom and Chien hobbled with 73s for 212s.

Ardina, who had one top 10 finish in 10 events thus far in the Symetra Tour, a joint seventh place effort in Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy Classic last month, is hoping to make it to the Rio Olympic Games in August via backdoor.

But listed as a first alternate to a number of players in the official Olympic golf rankings last month, the Filipina ace has been relegated to the second spot in the sub list but remained confident of her chances to gain a spot in Rio.

Meanwhile, Miguel Tabuena and Angelo Que are also set to see action in the sport’s return to the Olympic Games with the former a cinch to make it with a No. 38 ranking in the men’s side and the latter at No. 53 heading to the last two weeks of the qualifying.