Scot Open: Saso drills 68 in finale, settles at shared 15th

Yuka Saso watches her 10th tee attempt in the third round of her 2020 Tokyo Olympics stint. AFP

By Ozzy Alaba

MANILA — Firing bullets accurately on moments when it counted the most was actually Yuka Saso's thing after all.

The world's eighth-ranked golfer was precise in her 2021 Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open campaign ender, draining a four-under-par 68 in the fourth round to finish at joint 15th place at the Dumbarnie Golf Links in Fife, Scotland.

Unlike her icy-cold third-round outing, Saso flashed her calculated flair against errors from the get-go, and held on in the endgame to stay in her Saturday rank and share it with five other golfers by halting at five-under 281 aggregate in regulation.

The one-time Olympian's impressive wrap-up also made up for her somewhat sloppy second-round performance, which saw her slid to fifth and almost erased her solid five-under 67 premiere.

However, she fell short of snagging $1,500,000 upon trailing on eventual champion Ryann O'Toole, who slotted 271 shots for a 17-under after 72 holes, by 10 hits.

The Bulacan native clicked her ballistic firing on premium right off the bat when she drilled three momentum-building birdies in the first seven holes.

Nonetheless, she found herself in a short daze after bogeying holes 8 and 9 which nearly negated her decisive opener.

But never did Yuka knew that her engines just finished heating up for a scoring blast.

Though she had a birdie-bogey see-saw early in the back nine, the 20-year-old then alternated birdies and safe pars of her own to extend her scoring margin to -4 as time expired, ultimately carving a bittersweet closure in her first post-Olympics tourney.

Meanwhile, O'Toole was flawless in her final pursuit, collecting eight birdies in a fault-free round to notch a red-hot eight-under-par 64 en route to her first-ever career LPGA crown.

Elsewhere, 2020 Tokyo Olympiad bronze medalist Lydia Ko and Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul clipped the runner-up spot on a 14-under 274 overall submission.

While going home without the trophy in hand, Yuka will still bag $21,666 and will prepare for the upcoming AIG Women's British Open in Scotland's Carnoustie Golf Links.

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