Guce survives cut, but four other Filipina golfers falter
MANILA, Philippines — Clariss Guce survived a harrowing second round by the slimmest of margins, salvaging a 75 to emerge as the lone Filipina to make the cut in the Dream First Bank Charity Classic at the Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City, Kansas on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).
The two-time Epson Tour winner struggled throughout the round, but her three-over card was enough to put her at one-under 143, right on the projected cut line and in a share of 37th heading into the final 18 holes of the $200,000 Epson Tour event.
The rest of the Filipina contingent failed to advance.
Tomi Arejola, who opened with an impressive 68 to join Guce and a slew of international rivals near the top of the leaderboard Friday, skied to a 78 and missed the cut by two strokes after a costly 10-shot turnaround.
Bianca Pagdanganan also fell one stroke short at 145 despite a spirited early charge.
Starting on the back nine after a shaky opening 74, Pagdanganan strung together three straight birdies from No. 12 and appeared poised to work her way inside the even-par cutoff. But a bogey on the par-4 16th stalled her momentum, and another setback followed.
She birdied the par-3 fifth to reach the projected 144 cutoff, only to give the stroke back with a closing bogey on No. 9, settling for a 71 and a one-over 145 total.
Dottie Ardina likewise failed to survive, posting a 72 after a first-round 73, also for a 145. She managed only one birdie against one bogey in a largely uneventful second round.
ICTSI teammate Pauline del Rosario, safely inside the projected cut group after a 72, never recovered from a disastrous start. She bogeyed the first two holes, then double-bogeyed No. 5 and dropped another shot on the 12th to fall well off the pace.
The Asian Games-bound shotmaker briefly revived her hopes with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, but could not sustain the charge. A bogey on No. 15 ended her comeback bid as she closed with a 76 for a 148 total.
Guce, meanwhile, was never able to reproduce the sparkling form that produced her opening 68, when she sat just two strokes off the lead.
She began Saturday with a birdie on No. 1 but immediately gave it back with a bogey on the second. After parring the third, she went birdie-bogey-birdie to remain at one-under for the day.
The wheels began to come off on the par-3 eighth, where she made a double bogey. Consecutive bogeys on Nos. 9 and 10 compounded her troubles, although she steadied herself with a birdie on the 13th before another bogey on No. 17.
Guce eventually signed for a 38-37 and a 75, but her opening-round cushion proved just enough to carry her into the weekend.
She will have plenty of ground to make up, however, sitting seven strokes behind the leaders.
Megha Kanne of the United States fired a 69 to catch Malaysia's Mirabel Ting, who shot 70, at eight-under 136. Annabelle Pancake-Webb carded a 68 and Jennifer Elliott a 71 to sit one stroke behind at 137.
Megan Streicher, Lauren Olivares and Maddie Szeryk-DiBello are tied at 138 after rounds of 68, 69 and 70, respectively, setting up a tightly packed leaderboard and a potentially wide-open final-round battle.
For Guce, the immediate task is simply to make the most of her unexpected reprieve and climb as high as possible in the final round.
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