India's Nishna Patel was fine for the first seven holes before she ran into a disastrous stretch of bogeys and ended the third day at 5-over and Tied-44th in the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship here.
Nishna, who is the only Indian to make the cut from the six who came here, had shot 72-71 on first two days. With 77 on the third, she is 4-over and tied 44th. The defending champion and 36-hole leader, Mizuki Hashimoto (77), suffered a collapse in the last six holes with four bogeys and a double on a day when the greens were tricky and tough. As Hashimoto dropped from overnight 9-under to 4-under and tied ninth, there was a traffic jam at the top with four players sharing the lead at 8-under.
The four included two locals, the highly acclaimed 38th world ranked Natthakritta Vongtaveelop, who won the Thailand Amateurs two weeks ago, and a 16-year-old, Suvichaya Vinijchaitham.
Of the other two, there was Ting-Hsuan Huang from Chinese Taipei and a first timer at WAAP, while the fourth was Korea's Lim Jiyoo.
Filipino Rianne Mikhaela Malixi, coached by Rick Gibson a former Philippine Open winner and an Indian Open runner-up, was lying sole fifth after a 70 and was at 7-under.
Nishna started steadily with five pars before finding her first birdie. She parred the next, but then her woes began. Nishna bogeyed eighth, ninth and 10th; parred the 11th, but the last seven holes saw four more bogeys and just one birdie on the Par-4 15th.
Nishna said, “The greens were tricky and slopey. The conditions were tough. But it has been a great experience.”
It has been a year of learning for Nishna, who also played the Women's Amateur in UK and the World Amateur Team Championship.
Natthakritta, was the joint runner-up last year, and already has five wins in 2022. She closed strongly with birdies on 17 and 18 for a 68 that put her at 8-under for 54 holes.
Her teammate, Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, birdied the 10th and parred the last eight for a 69 and 8-under total.