Ardina falters in moving day, falls behind by 7

MANILA, Philippines -- Dottie Ardina’s bid to close in on Haruka Kawasaki suffered a snag with a last-hole mishap as she settled for a 72 and fell seven strokes off the pace in the third round of the Foxconn TLPGA Players Championship at the Orient Golf and Country Club in Taoyuan City Saturday.

Ardina pressed her bid with a three-birdie, two-bogey card after 10 holes but missed a couple of birdie chances and yielded a stroke on the closing par-5 hole to submit a 54-hole aggregate of 216 for a share of seventh with Japanese Sayaka Takahashi and Saiki Fujita, who matched 72s, seven strokes off the leader.

In contrast, Kawasaki holed out with a birdie to spike a 68 as she built a huge four-shot lead over compatriot Rio Takeda with a 209 total.

Takeda carded an eagle-aided 70 to grab second spot at 213 while local ace Yu Ju Chen slipped to third at 214 after a 73 even as young Yu Sang Hou rallied with a 67 to tie Ssu Chia Cheng and Kokona Sakurai, who fired 68 and 72, respectively, at fourth with 215s.

Four strokes off Korean Jin Hee Im after 36 holes, Ardina closed in with two birdies in the first five holes. But the ICTSI-backed LPGA and Epson Tour campaigner reeled back with consecutive bogeys from No. 6 but got back into the thick of things with a birdie on the 10th.

But flubbed birdies slowed down her backside charge and her last-hole mishap stymied his bid to stay within striking distance heading to the final 18 holes.

Im, meanwhile, bombed out with a 78 and tumbled to joint 12th at 218.