Vaughn Taylor golf: Dizon blows hot start, trails by 3 after 72; Malixi falters

MANILA, Philippines – Sam Dizon squandered a fine start with a flawed backside finish, ending up with a 72 and yielding the lead to Clairey Lim at the start of the Vaughn Taylor Championship at the Mount Vintage Golf Club in North Augusta, South Carolina Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).

The rising Filipina star flashed top form coming off a tied for second finish in the recent US Girls’ Junior qualifier in Illinois that netted her a spot for next month’s championship in Kentucky, birdying three of the last five holes at the front to wrest control at the turn with a 33.

But the ICTSI-backed shotmaker, who toughened up in the Singapore junior circuit, struggled with her irons at the back, bogeying the two par-3s then dropping another stroke on the closing par-5 hole for a 39 as she slipped to joint second Sahana Mantha, three strokes adrift of Lim.

The Californian birdied the first two holes then snapped a 10-hole par run with birdies on Nos. 13 and 15 before bogeying the tough No. 17. But her 69 proved enough to net her a big cushion over Dizon and Mantha heading to the last 36 holes of the event serving as part of the American Junior Golf Association tour.

But Rianne Malixi stumbled to perhaps her worst opening round in an otherwise flourishing AJGA campaign, where she has posted two victories — an eight-over 80 that put her too far behind Angela Zhang after 18 holes of the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational in Fayetteville, Arizona, also Tuesday.

Eager to get going coming off a long break, the 15-year-old Malixi, whose campaign is also supported by the world leading port operator, fumbled with a double-bogey on the par-5 No. 2 of the Blessings Golf Club then hit a couple of errant shots that led to a triple-bogey six on the third hole.

The two-time winner on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour never recovered from that erratic start, negating a birdie effort on No. 6 with a bogey on the next. She made another double bogey on No. 16 before holing out with a bogey.

Her 41-39 card sent her down to tied 16th, 11 shots off Zhang, who bucked a two-bogey, one-birdie card after five holes with four birdies in the last 11 for a 69 and a three-stroke lead over Siuue Wu, who matched par 72.