Ardina, Piccio stay in LPGA Stage 3 hunt

MANILA, Philippines - Dottie Ardina slowed down with a two-over 74 while Mia Piccio rebounded with a two-under 70 as the Filipina bets stayed in contention for berth in the final stage of the LPGA Qualifying School at the Plantation Golf and Country Club in Florida yesterday.

Ardina failed to duplicate her impressive 69 at the Panther course Thursday as she fumbled with a 74 on the same layout, dropping her to joint 36th with seven others at 217, 13 strokes off Amy Anderson of the US, who fired a 68, also at Panther, for a 204 as he pulled away by four over Maiya Tanaka (70), Taylor Collins (71) and China’s Xiyu Lin (71) for 208s after three rounds of Stage II elims.

But the former ICTSI team spearhead stayed within the cutoff line of 80-plus-ties who will advance to the final Stage III elims in December.

Piccio also made a giant leap from 115th to a share of 57th with a 70 at the adjacent Bobcat layout for a 219 aggregate.

The top 80 players and ties after the fourth round Friday will advance to the final qualifying phase on Dec. 4-8.

Piccio made an impressive third place finish in the first stage in California while Ardina wound up joint 24th.