Hot finish in Ohio boosts Ardina’s bid

MANILA, Philippines — Dottie Ardina boosted her stock ahead of her Paris Olympics debut as she posted her best finish in the LPGA Tour at joint seventh in the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio Sunday.

Saving the best for last, Ardina went bogey-free and racked up five birdies in the last nine holes of the Highland Meadows Golf Club for a closing 66 and a 72-hole aggregate of 274.

From 26th after three rounds, the ICTSI-backed Pinay leapfrogged to No. 7 in the final standings and surpassed her previous LPGA high of tied 10th in last year’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

The 30-year-old Ardina banked a cool $38,232 (around P2.23 million) in clinching her second Top 10 finish in the premier tour. It was also her biggest earning to date, eclipsing her $37,933 take in Arkansas.

Ardina, who had earlier rounds of 71, 69 and 66 in the $1.3-million event held three weeks before the women’s golf competition in Paris, finished 10 strokes behind winner Chanettee Wannasaern of Thailand.

Wannasaern, 20, birdied her last two holes to shoot a 67 for a 264 for a one-stroke victory over Korean Haeran Ryu (265 after a 65). Taiwanese Ssu-Chia Cheng (68) and Swedish Linn Grant (68) shared third at 270 ahead of Chinese bets Mary Liu (69) and Xiyu Lin (70) at 272.

Ardina was joined at seventh by Thai Jasmine Suwannapura (68), Norwegian Celine Borge (69), American Stacy Lewis (70), Australian Sarah Kemp (70) and Korean Hye-Jin Choi (70).