DOTTIE Ardina failed to sustain her steady play yesterday, slumping to a 75 and finishing in a three-way tie for 12th place at the close of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletics Club in Johns Creek, Georgia.
In solo sixth spot and just seven shots adrift entering the final round, Ardina unraveled with six bogeys, including a string from holes Nos. 13 to 15, against three birdies on the par-72, 6,831-yard Highlands course for a four-round total of 283.
She finished in a tie for 12th place with South Korean Sei Young Kim, the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA champion, and Thai Wichana Meechai, who shot 68 and 71, respectively, all of them pocketing $75,343 (roughly P3.6 million) each.
It was the best finish this season for Ardina, a seven-year LPGA tour veteran, who missed the cut in her previous four tournaments.
The former Pinay golf prodigy and national amateur standout had earlier scores of 70-70-68.
She finished 14 strokes behind American winner Nelly Korda, who closed out with a second straight 68 and bagged her first major by three shots over erstwhile co-leader and compatriot Lisette Salas (71-272). Korda went home with the top prize of $675,000 (P32.8 million).
Newly-crowned US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso rediscovered her fine touch but it came a little too late, shooting her best round of 67 for 285 and wound up in a five-way deadlock at 21st place. She won $48,142 (P2.3 million).
Saso was weighed down by a 75 in the penultimate round after shooting 73-70 in the first two rounds.
Former national player Bianca Pagdanganan exited the tournament early, failing to make the halfway cut at 76-74.
