Amateur Sofia Chabon stumbled with a late bogey while Chommapat Ponthanarak of Thailand sizzled at the finish as they forced a three-way tie for the lead at 70 with another Thai Onkanok Soisuwan at the start of the ICTSI Mount Malarayat Ladies Classic at Mt. Malarayat composite course in Lipa City, Batangas yesterday.

Cyna Rodriguez actually blew a one-stroke lead with bogeys in the last two holes and ended up with a 71 but Chabon came through with a run of gutsy pars after dropping a stroke on the par-5 14th, setting up a crowded leaderboard in the early going of the P1.25 million championship put up by ICTSI.

Tiranan Yoopan and fellow Thai Kanokwan Yospark gunned down three birdies against two bogeys as they tied Rodriguez at fourth while LPGT Riviera leg winner Chihiro Ikeda matched par 72 and Sam Bruce, another Filipina amateur, holed out with a bogey to drop to joint eighth with Thai Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro at 73.

Chabon, spearhead of Team The Country Club, hit four birdies against two bogeys at Mt. Lobo then added another birdie on No. 11 of Mt. Malipunyo to go three-under. But she hit an errant drive on No. 14 and needed to play out from a fairway bunker and reached the green in four.

Ponthanarak, meanwhile, turned in a scorching windup in tough condition, bouncing back from a two-over card at Mt. Lobo with birdies on Nos. 11, 13, 14 and 16 at Mt. Malipunyo, putting herself in early contention in the 54-hole tournament organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

Soisuwan, member of Team Southeast Asia that swept the Philippines in their Pradera Verde duel the past two years, birdied two of the first three holes in impressive fashion. But after negating her bogey on No. 6 with a birdie on the par-5 ninth, she failed to hit another birdie at Mt. Malipunyo and settled for a three-way tie for the lead.

Rodriguez, seeking to atone for her playoff setback to Thai Supakchaya Pattanakrueang at Luisita last month, pressed her bid early with a pair of back-to-back birdies that sandwiched a bogey on No. 7 to wrest control at 33. But she bogeyed the par-3 11th, recovered the stroke on No. 13 but dropped off the lead on a missed-green bogey No. 17 and a three-putt miscue on the last hole.

Yoopan, also due for a big win after a string of top five finishes, recovered big from a bogey mishap on No. 3 with three birdies in a four-hole stretch from No. 8. But she bogeyed No. 13 and parred the rest of the holes while Yospark birdied No. 16 to likewise force a three-way tie at fourth.

Sheryl Villasencio carded a 74 while Gretchen Villacencio and Thai Pattraporn Kratururk turned in identical 75s and amateurs Junia Gabasa and Sharon Park of Canada matched Thai Pannapa Polnamin’s 76 in the event backed by Custom Clubmakers, BDO, Meralco, Sharp, KZGm PLDT, Champion, Summit Mineral Water and K&G Golf.