Sunday, April 27, 2008

Fujisankei Ladies Classic Sunday: It's a Free-for-All!

The leaderboard has tightened up at the Fujisankei Ladies Classic. Second-round leader Erina Hara is playing more like she did Thursday (73) than Friday (64), which has opened the door for the rest of the lead pack, and Ayako Uehara, Yukari Baba, and Miki Saiki have waltzed right in to tie her for the lead at -6. Hot on their heels are the surprises of the tournament, Nobuko Kizawa and Keiko Sasaki at -4, followed by Michiko Hattori, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Sakura Yokomine, and Shiho Ohyama at -3 (although Jeon and Yokomine were even closer until they bogeyed the 12th and 13th, respectively). It's even too soon to count out Bo-Bae Song at -2. Unfortunately, Shinobu Moromizato has WDed, so she can't join in the fun. Back after the JLPGA lifts their web blackout.

[Update (5:00 am): It's Ayako Uehara for the win! Her closing 66 made up a 5-shot deficit on Hara, who finished alone in 2nd at -7, exactly where she started the day. Uehara pulled away from the lead pack with 3 consecutive birdies on the 14th through 16th holes. Even though she bogeyed the 17th while Hara and Saiki birdied it, leaving her with a 1-shot lead on the former and a 2-shot lead on the latter, she maintained it as they all finished with pars on the 18th. Here are the final results:

1st/-8 Ayako Uehara (70-72-66)
2nd/-7 Erina Hara (73-64-72)
3rd/-6 Miki Saiki (69-71-70)
4th/-5 Yukari Baba (69-72-70)
5th/-4 Michiko Hattori (70-73-67)
T6/-3 Yuka Shiroto (71-72-70), Akane Iijima (71-70-72), Keiko Sasaki (72-67-74)
T9/-2 Hiromi Mogi (71-74-69), Mi-Jeong Jeon (73-71-70), Sakura Yokomine (69-74-71), Yuko Mitsuko (69-74-71), Nobuko Kizawa (71-71-72), Shiho Ohyama (69-72-73)

T15/-1 Bo-Bae Song (75-69-71)
T19/+1 Eun-A Lim (73-73-71), Kaori Higo (74-72-71)
T27/+2 Yun-Jye Wei (74-74-70), Midori Yoneyama (74-72-72)
T43/+5 Namika Omata (72-76-73), Mayu Hattori (71-75-75)
T48/+7 Yui Kawahara (73-74-76)
WD Shinobu Moromizato

With her win, Uehara jumps from the #10 into the #1 spot on the JLPGA money list, followed by Song, Hiroko Yamaguchi, Baba, Yokomine, Hyun-Ju Shin, Miho Koga, Saiki, Ji-Hee Lee, and Yuri Fudoh.

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