Pauline del Rosario put on a blistering start before slowing down at the backside to card a six-under 66 and open a whopping six-shot lead over amateur Eagle Ace Superal at the start of the ICTSI Royal Northwoods Ladies Classic at the Royal Northwoods Golf Club, Inc. in San Rafael, Bulacan yesterday.

Del Rosario, out to snap a title spell after racking up four victories to win the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit title in 2017, birdied the first four holes then added two more on Nos. 6 and 7 to turn in a career-best start. A bogey on the ninth broke that stirring birdie-binge but the former amateur star birdied the par-3 12th before settling for pars for a 31-35 card.

But it proved enough to put the long-hitting Del Rosario way ahead of the pack as Superal took the challenger’s role with a 72 after the rest of the fancied pros wavered at the tough backside of the rolling par-72 layout.

Superal turned in a one-birdie, one-bogey card to seize solo second as Thanuttra Boonraksasat blew a two-under frontside effort with three bogeys at the back as the recent Manila Southwoods leg winner dropped to third with a 73 in the early going of the tournament serving as the eighth leg of the seventh season of the country’s premier ladies circuit put up by ICTSI.

Finally finding her rhythm after a string of so-so stints following a swing change conducted by coach Patrick Leary, who used to handle legends Nancy Lopez and Tom Kite, Del Rosario birdied the first four holes in impressive fashion to seize early control of the compact field.

Though she missed another crack for birdie at the par-5 fifth hole, the former The Country Club team hotshot came away with another back-to-back feat from No. 6 but failed to get up-and-down on the tough ninth hole.

She, however, failed to sustain that fiery start with a couple of flubbed birdie chances at the back where she settled for just one birdie that, however, proved enough to net her a huge lead heading to the last 36 holes of the P1.5 million championship and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

Marvi Monsalve holed out with a bogey and shot a 74 while amateur Samantha Dizon squandered a two-under card after eight holes as she floundered at the finish, bogeying four of the last five, including three straight from No. 14 that dropped her to joint fifth with four others at 75.

Other three over par scorers were Thai Numa Gulyanamitta, Chihiro Ikeda, Daniella Uy and amateur Kang Da Yun of Korea.

Saruttaya Ngam-usawan, who won here in 2016 to nail her first career victory, hardly recovered from a fumbling start of three bogeys and a double bogey after six holes but came through with a pitch-in eagle on the par-4 17th to save a 77 for joint 10th with Taiwanese Chang Hsuan-ping, Alex Etter and amateur Mafy Singson in the event backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT, Empire Golf and Sports and M.Y. Shokai Technology, Inc,