Ikeda gets top view in Southern Ladies golf

Chihiro Ikeda carded 55 points under the Molave scoring to open a three-shot lead over Dottie Ardina and former winner Anya Tanpinco in the Southern Ladies Golf Tournament at the Iloilo Golf and Country Club in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. Ikeda, the individual gold medalist in the 2009 Laos Southeast Asian Games, had easy birdies on the fourth and eighth holes but scrambled with a bogey on the 10th as a result of poor putting to settle for a 71 in regulation worth 55 in Molave. "I played well though not well enough. I need to shoot more points tomorrow to win," Ikeda said.

Ardina, Ikeda's ICTSI stable mate, faltered with bogeys on Nos. 1, 5 and 9 and needed to ram in a birdie-putt from six feet on the 17th to salvage a 39-35 card for 52 points, two over par. Tanpinco, the former two-time national champion, also turned in 52 points, highlighted by a chip-in birdie on No. 11. She also birdied No. 5 from 15 feet but failed to rescue pars in four times that she went out of regulation on Nos. 3, 8, 13 and 15. The ICTSI bets dominated the first round action in the 54-hole tournament organized by the National Golf Association of the Philippines with Sun Choi carding 48 points for fourth, Daniella Uy shooting 47 points, Sheryl Villacencio carding 46, the same score put in by Del Monte’s Lovelyn Guioguio, runner-up in the recent RP Ladies Open. Andie Unson scored a 45, Cangolf’s Lucy Landicho had a 44 while Bacolod’s Cara Golez made 43 points in the Championship Division. Sarah Ababa had 41 points followed by Del Monte’s Eva Miñoza (38) and Jo Barredo of Villamor (31). – Adrian Flores, GMANews.TV