Pavarisa Yoktuan matched Dottie Ardina’s early birdie-binge then gunned down an eagle and closed out with a brave run of pars at the back to stretch her lead to two with a second 69 in the ICTSI Splendido Ladies Classic at the Splendido Taal Golf Club yesterday.

The Thai warded off Ardina’s back-to-back birdie start with her own birdies on Nos. 2 and 4 then hit an eagle on the par-5 No. 10 that more than made up for her bogey on the next. She parred the rest for a 34-35 card and a six-under 138 in another hot and windy day at the rolling layout.

The Filipina ace, out to snap a long spell on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, failed to sustain her fiery start with flubbed birdie bids in a couple of holes then settled for one-bogey, one-birdie card at the back for another 70 and a 140.

That sealed a shootout for the top P150,000 purse in today’s final round with the next three players – Thais Thanuttra Boonraksasat and Kanyalak Preedasuttijit and Korean amateur Kim Hee Ji – dropping seven strokes back off Yoktuan with 18 holes left in the P750,000 championship serving as the fourth leg of this year’s circuit sponsored by ICTSI.

Boonraksasat stumbled with a 74 after a 71, Preedasuttijit matched par 72, while Kim hobbled with a 75 for identical 145s.

Another Thai, Chatprapa Siriprakob, carded a second 73 for a 146 while reigning LPGT Order of Merit winner Pauline del Rosario hardly recovered from a 74 with a 73 and lay nine shots off the pace at 147 in a tie with last week’s ICTSI Eagle Ridge winner Chihiro Ikeda, who also shot a 73.

Yupaporn Kawinpakorn, back in the hunt for a third straight LPGT crown after ruling the South Forbes and Beverly Place legs, also barely rebounded from an opening 75 with a 73 for a 148 with Princess Superal also shooting a 73 for a 149.

Ardina, who used to dominate the early years of the LPGT before campaigning in the LPGA and Symetra Tours, appeared headed for an explosive round with those early birdies. But she failed to gun down another in the next eight holes, including muffed putts on the next two par-5s. Worse, she bogeyed No. 11, another par-5 hole, which she birdied in the first round but birdied No. 13 before settling for pars.

But Ardina’s hot start failed to unsettle Yoktuan, who placed third at Eagle Ridge, as the Thai ace countered with her own birdies and fired an eagle to fuel her charge. But like Ardina, Yoktuan bogeyed No. 11 and failed to pad her lead, enabling the Filipina to stay within striking distance for a clear crack at the crown in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and backed by Custom Clubmakers, BDO, Meralco, Sharp, KZGm PLDT, Champion, Summit Mineral Water and K&G Golf.