Del Rosario, 4 other Filipina golfers seek rebound in IOA tilt

MANILA, Philippines – Pauline del Rosario resumes her campaign on the Epson Tour while compatriots Bianca Pagdanganan, Clariss Guce, Dottie Ardina and Abby Arevalo seek to bounce back from drab stints the last time out as the IOA Championship gets going Friday in Beaumont, California.

Del Rosario limped to joint 61st in the LPGA Tour farm league’s kickoff tournament, the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in Winter Haven three weeks ago and skipped last week’s Arizona Golf Classic where Pagdanganan, who shared 41st place in Florida, wound up at tied 48th, and Guce, who tied for 22nd in the first leg, ended up at joint 56th.

Ardina didn’t see action in Florida but missed the cut in Arizona while Arevalo failed to advance in both tournaments,

But the Filipina bets are looking to strike back in this week’s $200,000 championship at the 6,527-yard Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon course with del Rosario starting first at 7:52 a.m. with French Anais Meyssonnier and Japanese Yuri Onishi at the backside of the par-72 layout.

Ardina drew an 8:14 a.m. tee-time with Spain’s Marta Barrio and Gigi Stoll of the US on No. 1, while Arevalo tees off at 12:10 p.m. with Taiwan’s Joy Chou and American Savannah Vilaubi, also on No. 10.

Guce will play alongside Milagros Chaves of Paraguay and American Gabby Lemieux at 12:43 p.m. at the backside, while Pagdanganan will anchor Team ICTSI’s campaign at 1:38 p.m. on No. 1 with Malaysian Natasha Oon and Sarah White of the US.

Florida leg winner Agatha Laisne and Aussie Gabriela Ruffels, who topped the Arizona stop, banner the stellar cast in the 54-hole championship that also drew the likes of American Kathleen Scavo and Jillian Hollis.