Ardina suffers final-round meltdown, winds up T44

Filipina golf star Dottie Ardina failed to consolidate her strong opening rounds and crashed out in the finale on Sunday, finishing tied for 44th in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club.

After an impressive 65-67 in the first two rounds, Ardina struggled with a 75 as she saw her dreams of lifting an LPGA crown faded away.

Entering the final 18 holes at 10-under, Ardina wasn’t in her elements, bogeying three times in the first seven holes as the field made dramatic surge in the leaderboard.

She started the back 9 with a birdie on No. 10 before bogeying the 12th. Yet the breaks got worse after the 30-year-old Ardina double-bogeyed the par-4 13th as her standings went into free fall.

The Filipina, who placed 13th in the Paris Olympics on account of her strong finishing rounds, refused to yield and finally struck with a birdie on 14th.

Still, it was the best finish for Ardina this season after sharing seventh place in the Dana Open last July.

American Lucy Li fired a spectacular 11-under-par 60 to hold on to the clubhouse leadership with Thai Jasmine Suwannapura.

Ardina was stalking the second-round leader, South African Ashleigh Buhai, who was clutching a one-shot lead going into the last round.

Fellow Filipina Bianca Pagdanganan didn’t make the cut in the $3-million LPGA tournament.