Korean's shaky finish opens door to RP bets

CARMONA, Cavite – Korean and Southwoods bet Lee Jeong-hwa nearly turned a superb performance into a horrible round as she dropped four strokes in the last four holes for a 71, enabling three others, including local bets Dottie Ardina and Louise Manalo, to get a clear shot at the ICTSI-Philippine Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship crown at the Manila Southwoods’ Legends Course yesterday.

A closing double-bogey from a wayward greenside bunker shot marked Lee’s shaky windup that included back-to-back bogeys from No. 15 as the 14-year-old club bet, who shared the lead with three others with a 73 in the first round, almost squandered a five-stroke lead over Ardina and Manalo after going five-under after 14 holes in another breezy day here.

“I just lost my touch and I don’t know why,” said Lee, a smooth-swinging 14-year-old shotmaker from Busan, who’s on vacation here since November, referring to her bogey-bogey-par-double-bogey windup.

“Bad finish,” was all Sung Dae Lee could say as he shook his head after watching his daughter hit an errant shot off the trap on the 18th, the ball bouncing past the pin and off the green. She chipped in but needed two putts to close out a 34-37 card for a one-shot lead on a 144 aggregate.

It was indeed an awful finish but a good ending for Ardina and first round co-leader Manalo, whose 70 and 72, respectively, put the ICTSI teammates within a stroke off the faltering Lee at 145 heading into the final round of the 54-hole championship sponsored by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

Korean Shine Lee sizzled with three birdies at the back to fire a tournament-best 69, catching Ardina and Manalo in second and giving herself a crack at the title in this 47th staging of the event, organized by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines (WGAP), on her very first try.

“I want to win on my first stint here,” said the 17-year-old Shine Lee, who started in joint eighth with a 76 and opened her second round bid with a 20-foot birdie putt before holing out with another birdie on the 18th from almost the same distance.

She also birdied No. 7 but stumbled with bogeys on Nos. 4 and 9 and remained far behind off her fellow Korean until she hit her stride at the back with back-to-back birdies from No. 10, missing a couple of birdie chances inside five feet before rolling in a curling birdie putt from way out on the tough finishing hole.