Sarah Ababa turned in a career-best start of bogey-free, four-under 68 to slip past top favorite Cyna Rodriguez for a two-stroke lead at the start of the ICTSI Riviera Ladies Classic at Riviera’s Couples Course in Silang, Cavite yesterday.

Ababa took advantage of benign conditions in one of the early flights and strung up two birdies each on both nines while saving pars twice in an impressive outing for the former national team mainstay chasing a breakthrough on the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.

She credited her solid iron game and steady putting in posting her best-ever start that featured four birdies inside 10 feet and put her two strokes ahead of the most fancied player in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

“I hit solid approach shots, especially from within 100 yards,” said Ababa, who tied for 20th in the ICTSI Ladies Open won by Korean Hwang Ye-nah and finished joint second with Thai Satarak Walailak at ICTSI Splendido ruled by Thai Meechai Wichanee but struggled to place tied for sixth with Jayvie Agojo and former teammate Lovelynn Guioguio at ICTSI Wack Wack won by amateur ace Princess Superal.

Three flights behind, Rodriguez birdied the par-5 No 16 to move within one off Ababa but dropped a shot farther back after missing the 18th green. The reigning back-to-back Order of Merit winner settled for a 70.

Agojo, who beat Chihiro Ikeda by three here last year to nail her first LPGT diadem, birdied the par-5 11th to go one-under but dropped a stroke on the 15th and ended up with a 72 in a tie with Korean amateur Koh Eu Na, who birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to get into the mix in the early going of the 54-hole tournament serving as the fourth leg of the circuit sponsored by ICTSI.

Guioguio also had a strong start with birdies on Nos. 6 and 7 but bogeyed the next two and dropped four strokes in a three-hole stretch from No. 11. She bounced back with another birdie on the par-3 14th but double bogeyed the par-5 16th and needed to birdie the last hole to card a 76.

Other four-over par scorers were Apple Fudolin and amateur Annika Cedo.

Cristina Corpus of the US wavered with a 40 at the back and wound up with a 77 for joint eighth with Ikeda, who failed to get going with six bogeys against a lone birdie, and Anya Tanpinco, who hit three birdies in overcast skies but fumbled with six bogeys and a double-bogey.

See more details for the 2015 ICTSI Riviera Ladies Classic

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