Friday, February 2, 2024

Wobbly putting stalls Malixi in Thailand

Rianne Malixi finished with a 69, as she missed gaining on Chun-Wei Wu of Chinese Taipei halfway through the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship at the Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand.

The closing holes proved to be a test of putting skills for Malixi, who came out of a three-birdie, two-bogey card at the front of the Waterside course with back-to-back birdies from No. 11.

She bounced back from a missed-green mishap on No. 15 with a 14-foot downhiller on the par-3 16th but missed birdie chances inside eight feet on both the 17th and 18th, finishing with a 35-34.

Counting her opening 70, Malixi pooled a 139 for a share of 11th, an improvement from her previous standing but trailing Wu by seven strokes.

The Taiwanese, who shared the first round with Thais Eila Galitsky and Navaporn Soontreeyapas with 67s fashioned out in the morning group, thrived even more in the afternoon wave Friday, coming through with a bogey-free 65 to storm ahead at 12-under 132.

She closed out with three straight birdies at the front at dusk for a 31-34 as she dislodged Hinano Muguruma, who, for a while, had taken command of the field with a 134 aggregate after a brilliant 66 she highlighted with six straight birdies from No. 7.

But the three other Filipinas fell by the wayside as Anya Cedo came up short of her rally, shooting a 73 for a 148 and a share of 56th, while Junia Gabasa wound up at joint 66th at 151 and Nicole Abelar tied for 69th at 152 after matching 74s.

The post Wobbly putting stalls Malixi in Thailand first appeared on Fastbreak.


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