Friday, May 30, 2014

Resort Trust Ladies Friday: Miki Saiki Returns?

Miki Saiki joined Teresa Lu and Ji-Min Lee at the top of the Resort Trust Ladies after firing a 6-birdie 67 today.  Here's hoping her 5th round in the 60s and 3rd in her last 4 of 2014 signals the return to form of one of the top players on the JLPGA.  If she can put that 6-event run where she made the cut twice and finished no better than 50th squarely in the rear-view mirror, there's no telling where she can end up this season.  At #33 on the JLPGA money list, she's a win away from returning to the top 20, where she's basically been her entire career.

Of course, there are 36 holes left to decide this thing and there are 46 golfers within 5 shots of the lead.  Lu is hoping for a comeback of her own, as are Momoko Ueda and (to a lesser extent) Rikako Morita at -4, Mi-Jeong Jeon at -3, Yukari Baba at -2, Yuri Fudoh, Asako Fujimoto, Kaori Ohe, and Mamiko Higa at -1, and Sakura Yokomine and Akiko Fukushima at E.  The JLPGA's very finest thus far in 2014, Sun-Ju Ahn and Bo-Mee Lee, are right in the hunt -1, while Misuzu Narita and Onnarin Sattayabanphot are right behind them at E.  And the JLPGA's young guns are, too, with Shiho Toyonaga and Satsuki Oshiro at -3, Ayaka Watanabe, Phoebe Yao, Erika Kikuchi, and Lala Anai at -2, Natsuka Hori, Miki Sakai, and Ai Suzuki joining Higa at -1, and 18-year-old amateur Kotone Hori joining Narita and Maiko Wakabayashi at E.

So there's a long way to go before we'll find out how Saiki follows up on last week's runner-up finish.  But wouldn't it be cool if she made it her 5th year in a row on tour with at least 1 win by snagging career win #8 this coming Sunday?

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