Lorena Ochoa pulled away from the pack under a steady rainfall throughout the third round with a two-under-par to keep a slim three-stroke lead in the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika tournament in South Carolina.

Filipina Dorothy Delasin, however, shot a poor eight-over-par 80 to stay out of contention.

For the second straight day, Delasin was a far cry from her first-round three-under 69 that momentarily placed her at seventh on the leader board and just three shots of the leaders. 

But a four-over 76 on Friday then an 80 yesterday pulled her down to joint 77th with American Katie Futcher.

Consecutive triple-double bogeys on the 12th and 13th holes spelled disaster for the former US Women’s Amateur champion.  Delasin canned four bogeys and two birdies the rest of the way and will definitely have a hard time catching up for a top-20 finish in the 72-hole competition.

Ochoa started the day with a bogey on the first hole, but took advantage of the soft greens to attack the pins.

She carded birdies on holes three, five and six before holing out from 95 yards on the ninth hole to make the turn four-under for the day. But Ochoa wasn’t done as an errant shot from the fairway on the par-four 12th landed on the far right edge of the green and the world’s top female golfer proved just that by chipping from the fringe for a birdie.

Castrale three strokes back after 54 holes. Nicole Castrale moved into second place at the Ginn Tribute hosted by ANNIKA with a four-under 68 in the third round.

Despite rain and gusting winds, Castrale managed five birdies and just one bogey to move from a tie for fourth to second place at eight-under 208.

She trailed Ochoa by three and will play in the final group on Sunday. Her career best finish came at last year’s Honda LPGA Thailand, where she tied for third. Castrale has three top-10 finishes this season including a season-low tie for fourth at the Ginn Open in April.

The tee times moved up after a constant rainfall yesterday and predicted showers through Monday morning. The 80-player field will go off of tees one and 10 in threesomes in 10-minute intervals. The lead group of Ochoa, Castrale and Cristie Kerr will start at noon. 

Lady Falcons break out of rut

ADAMSON University finally snapped out of a string of heartbreakers as the Lady Falcons upended fancied University of Santo Tomas in four sets yesterday to revive its semifinal bid in the Shakey’s V-League at The Arena in San Juan.

Cebu’s offense keys blistering win over Negros

THE opening-day winners took different paths in the Baseball Philippines tournament yesterday at the Rizal Memorial diamond.

THE entire maze regarding the next schedule of Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao remains, at least at the moment, hazy.

Lorena Ochoa pulled away from the pack under a steady rainfall throughout the third round with a two-under-par to keep a slim three-stroke lead in the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika tournament in South Carolina.

NIKE’S Swoosh is one of the most ubiquitous symbols in the history of mankind. It’s right there with the Golden Arches, the peace sign, and the Heroes’ helix if Tim Kring’s blockbuster television series continues to sweep the world off its feet with its psychological thriller take on the superhero genre.