GEN. TRIAS, Cavite. – Harmie Constantino and Chihiro Ikeda holed out with birdies on opposite nines as they saved one-under par 71s and forced a three-way tie for the lead with Sarah Ababa in the first round of the ICTSI Eagle Ridge at Aoki Invitational here Tuesday.
While fancied Chanelle Avaricio floundered with a wobbly backside start, Constantino bounced back from back-to-back bogeys from No. 14 with two birdies in the last three holes for nines of 35-36 while Ikeda, playing in a separate flight, birdied the ninth on her way home to turn in her own version of 35-36 marked by an eagle on the par-5 No. 16.
Ababa, who snapped a string of mediocre finishes on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour after scoring a breakthrough win at Sherwood Hills in 2016 and a joint runner-up effort with Ikeda at Splendido Taal last month, appeared headed to wresting the solo lead with a three-birdie, one-bogey card after 15 holes from the back.
But the shotmaker from a clan of top golfers in the south missed the eighth green and failed to return a six-footer for par, leading to rounds of 36-35 and enabling Constantino and Ikeda to make it a three-way fight in the early going of the 54-hole championship which doubled its prize fund to P1.5 million.
They opened a two-stroke lead over amateur Mikha Fortuna, who bogeyed the 18th to fall two strokes behind at 73 and in a tie with Apple Fudolin, while Korean Juyoung Yang blew a one-under card after six holes with four bogeys in the last 10 as she limped with a 75.
Meanwhile, Angelo Que, Zanieboy Gialon and Jhonnel Ababa forged ahead in a crowded leaderboard with identical 67s for a one-stroke lead over Tony Lascuña at the start of the ICTSI Eagle Ridge.
