DOTTIE Ardina fought back from a four-over card to salvage a 72, while amateur Regina de Guzman bucked a 74 as they finished tied for 16th to safely made it to the 70-player final cut of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament Final Stage in Florida Saturday.
Clariss Guce also rallied with a 70 to jump from joint 83rd to a share of 61st after four days of action at the Jones and Hills courses of the LPGA International.
But the three other Filipinas failed to make the last cut with Princess Superal hardly recovering from a poor start and finished with a 72 for a share of 96th at 294, Mia Piccio hobbled with a 75 for joint 123rd 298, and Cyna Rodriguez carded a 73 and ended up at 136th at 300.
While Ardina, De Guzman and Guce stayed in the hunt for the 20 LPGA Tour cards for next year, Superal, Piccio and Rodriguez settled for conditional cards for the Symetra Tour, the farm tour of the LPGA circuit.
At joint 10th after three rounds, Ardina uncharacteristically struggled in the early going at Jones, which she tamed with a 70 in the second round. She double-bogeyed No. 1 and dropped two strokes on Nos. 4 and 6 and fell down the leaderboard.
But the Laguna native battled back with birdies on Nos. 8, 10 and 13 before gunning down another birdie on the par-5 closing hole to save a 72 for a 283.
De Guzman tied Ardina at 16th despite turning in her first over-par card after a 71, 68 and 70. But the San Jose State U senior remains confident of recalling her fierce form as she and Ardina chase for two of the 20 cards staked in the final 18 holes of the grueling qualifier.
At 61st with a 290 and six shots behind the group occupying 19th-23rd spots, Guce will have a lot of catching up to do but she hopes to redisplay the form that netted her two titles on the Symetra Tour this year in the final round.
American Jaye Green grabbed the lead with a 70 for a 273, two strokes over Olafia Kristinsdottir, who rallied with a 68 for a 275, while Sadena Parks also fired a 68 for a 276.
Third round leader Nasa Hataoka of Japan floundered with a 75 and slid to fourth at 277 while other local aces Angel Yin and Beth Allen pooled a 278 and 279, respectively, after a pair of 68s.
