TARLAC — Sarah Ababa closed with consecutive birdies to draw level with Daniella Uy going into the final round of the ICTSI Luisita Championship on Wednesday.
Ababa and Uy shot 71 and 75, respectively to sit on 2-over 146, just one stroke ahead of Korean Kim Seoyun who had a 70.
Uy allowed Ababa to get a piece of the lead after she bogeyed 16 and 17.
The P750,000-event ends on Thursday.
Harmie Constantino, who shared the first-round lead with Uy, slipped to joint fourth on 150 with Florence Bisera after a 79.
“I hit more fairways and greens today than yesterday and I was able to read the line of some of my putts,” said Ababa in Filipino. “The greens are difficult, you need to put the ball on the side where you can recover.”
Ababa failed to get up and down on the par-3 No. 6 but recovered the stroke on the eighth before closing out her frontside stint with another birdie.
She, however, missed a couple of birdie opportunities at the back but stayed on course to ending an eight-year title spell with a run of backside pars.
In contrast, Uy hit 10 fairways and reached the green in regulation 14 times.
However, she three-putted four times.
Uy remains unfazed.
“Stay present and don’t think ahead — one hole at a time,” said Uy, referring to the lessons learned from her Iloilo meltdown.
She, however, stressed the need for her putting to click on the tricky Luisita greens.
Looming large was Kim who came through with the tournament-best round.
“My first round was terrible, I made two double bogeys, my irons and putting didn’t work,” said Kim, who lost by one to Pauline del Rosario in the last LPGT stop at Caliraya Springs. “But today, they clicked although I missed a lot of (birdie) chances since the greens are very hard.”
Pamela Mariano was in the thick of things with a gutsy 72 after 15 holes but bogeyed the last three to end up with a 75. She fell to solo sixth on 151 while Gretchen Villacencio skied to a 77 for a 152 and Chihiro Ikeda also faltered with a five-over card and bowed out of the title race with a 156.
The leading scores:
146 — Sarah Ababa 75-71, Daniella Uy 71-75
147 — Kim Seoyun 77-70
150 — Florence Yvon Bisera 76-74, Harmie Constantino 71-79
151 — Pamela Mariano 76-75
152 — Gretchen Villacencio 75-77
156 — Chihiro Ikeda 79-77
157 — Apple Jeen Fudolin 81-76, Yang Ju Young 79-78
158 — Laurea Duque (am) 76-82
164 — Rev Lizbeth Alcantara 82-82, Kristine Fleetwood 86-78.
