Pauline del Rosario hobbled with a 74 but still managed to stretch her lead to two strokes over a charging Nemittra Juntanaket of Thailand in the second round of the ICTSI Orchard Ladies Invitational at Orchard’s Player course yesterday in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
One-up over Thai Pannapa Polnamin and two other locals with a 73 Wednesday, Del Rosario bucked tough pin placements and birdied the first two holes only to cool down with a bogey on the third and a couple of missed birdie chances.
Though she kept a run of pars in the next 12 holes, the rookie pro stumbled with another bogey on No. 16 then took a two-stroke penalty after Polnamin complained that she teed off outside the No. 17 box.
Still, her 35-39 card and a 147 proved enough to put Del Rosario two shots clear off Juntanaket, who fired the tournament-best 70 for a 149, as Polnamin skied to a 79 on a closing 41 and tumbled to joint eighth with Ababa, who also made a 79, at 153, now six strokes behind.
Defending champion Chihiro Ikeda, who also opened with a 74, also limped with an 81 and fell to joint 11th at 155 with Thai Numa Gulyanamitta, who bounced back with a 75.
