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Jeeno Thitikul rekindled her love affair with Royal Lytham and St Annes in spectacular fashion. She turned back the clock at the venue where she first announced herself as a precocious 15-year-old talent and charging to a solid seven-under 64 to seize the first-round lead in the AIG Women’s Open in Lancashire, England on Thursday.

After narrowly missing a birdie on the tournament’s rare opening par-3, the Thai world No. 2 quickly found her rhythm, unleashing seven birdies against demanding links conditions to surge two shots clear of red-hot Haeran Ryu, whose own impressive 66 had looked enough to secure first day honors in the season’s final major championship.

For Thitikul, the round was more than just a brilliant start in her pursuit of a long-awaited first major championship. It was also a return to the course where she captured the Smyth Salver as the tournament’s low amateur in 2018, a performance that first showcased her immense potential on one of golf’s sternest stages.

Despite teeing off in the more difficult afternoon wave, Thitikul masterfully navigated Royal Lytham’s swirling winds, punishing pot bunkers and unpredictable greens, combining crisp ball-striking with a hot putter and, by her own admission, a few fortunate bounces.

Ryu, meanwhile, continued to ride the momentum of a remarkable season as she launched her quest for an extraordinary third straight major championship.

Fresh off victories at the Women’s PGA Championship and the Evian Championship, the world No. 3 looked every bit a player capable of completing a rare three-major sweep. She dominated one of the marquee groups featuring world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Olympic champion Lydia Ko, showcasing superb iron play and confident putting in an opening five-under card that briefly placed her atop the leaderboard before Thitikul’s late charge stole the spotlight.

The contrasting rounds set up an intriguing battle heading into Friday, with Thitikul looking to build on her momentum in a switch in tee-time, while Ryu, seeking to strengthen one of the most remarkable major runs in recent LPGA history, out to stay in control of her game in a late start.

Two-time US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso, meanwhile, endured another frustrating round as she mixed flashes of brilliance with costly mistakes to settle for a one-over 72 and a share of 37th.

The ICTSI-backed Filipina-Japanese star recovered from an opening-hole miscue, responding with birdies on Nos. 5 and 6 to briefly move into red figures and hint at the kind of charge that has made her one of the game’s biggest-stage performers. But she struggled to create quality birdie opportunities over the closing stretch, and costly bogeys on Nos. 14 and 18 dropped her back to one over.

Although eight shots behind Thitikul, Saso remained within reach of the projected cutline and has an opportunity to halt a string of missed cuts, including in the majors. A strong second round could quickly revive her hopes of contending over the weekend on a course that has already proven capable of producing dramatic swings.

Thitikul’s charge gathered steam after that early missed opportunity. She ignited her round with three straight birdies from No. 4, added another on the eighth, then continued her relentless assault with birdies on the 11th, 13th and 15th for a sparkling 31-33 card.

Ryu, who began in the calmer morning conditions, opened with a birdie and added more at the fourth, sixth and seventh holes to reach the turn in 31. A bogey on No. 15 briefly slowed her charge, but she answered immediately with birdies on the 16th and No. 18 to finish with a 66 that would have led most opening rounds.

Japan’s Shiho Kuwaki also emerged as an early contender. The LPGA of Japan Tour standout birdied three straight holes beginning at the fourth, recovered from a bogey at the eighth with three more birdies over her final eight holes, including one on the demanding 18th, to match Ryu at five-under.

France’s Celine Boutier eagled the par-5 sixth and added two birdies in a solid 67 to share fourth with Yealimi Noh, who bounced back from an early bogey with five birdies.

“It’s really nice that I knew I hit some good shots, but I got lucky bounces over the pot bunkers. When it’s your way, it’s really your way. I knew I had a really good putter today too,” said Thitikul.

“The majors really test our games mentally and physically. When you play good in a major, even top five or top 10, you feel great and you have more confidence going to play just regular tournaments. It’s about beating the course when you’re in a major.”

The five-time Ladies European Tour winner also smiled when reflecting on the course where she made headlines as a teenager eight years ago while using her old name Atthaya.

“I should be better than when I was 15 years old,” she said. “It played the same. I think there’s still bunkers in the way and when you play good you keep the momentum going. My strategy is to beat my score from when I was 15,” said Thitikul.

She added: “I had really good memories on the first hole. I remember the first day from 2018 and on the first hole, I hit it very close to the pin. That’s the best memory. Then making the cut was also a good memory, but I finished last, so I want to keep improving on what I did last time.”

Ryu remained equally pleased with her own opening effort despite missing out on the outright lead.

“Today felt so tough because in the morning before the round there was a little rain, so I thought, ‘Please no rain today.’ The weather was pretty good but the wind was still hard. My golf is pretty good. I’m happy to finish with a birdie,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ko holed a lengthy birdie putt on the final hole to salvage a 71, while Korda recovered from early bogeys with birdies on the sixth and eighth before further mistakes on Nos. 11 and 15 left her with a 73, tied for 53rd and hovering near the projected cut line.

‘Ayaw ko ng hocus-pocus.’

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) founding chairman Manny Pacquiao did not mince words as he slammed the alleged game manipulation of the Bacolod Masskara in the league.

The MPBL has banned still-unnamed players and coaches and cancelled the team’s season ‘in light of recent allegations concerning potential game manipulation.’

The allegations were rooted from an eyebrow-rising game with the Bulacan Kuyas, where Bacolod did not score in the final seven minutes and 48 seconds. The Masskara lost, 100-64.

Talking to reporters Friday during the launch of the Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour in Makati, Pacquiao said that he wants the MPBL’s players to play with integrity and honesty.

‘Sinasabi ko naman sa kanila na ang MPBL, nagbibigay ng kasiyahan sa larangan ng sports sa buong Pilipinas, sa mga Pilipino. Ayaw ko yung mga may hokus-pokus na nangyayari na dinadaya yung mga tao,’ he said.

‘Gusto ko, mga players na maglaro with integrity and honesty.’

He bared that there is a team of individuals formed to oversee the games.

‘Lagi akong nakasubaybay. In fact, may team akong binuo to oversee and review all the games every time na may laro, may mga taong nakasubaybay riyan, pinagaaralan yung gma laro kung may nagbebenta o wala,’ he said.

The former senator also appealed to the players and coaches ‘not to fool the masses.’

‘Sa mga players, coaches, wag nating lokohin ang taongbayan. Maglaro tayo kasi pangit yung nagchi-cheer ang mga tao tapos it’s a fixed game. Mahirap yun,’ he said.

‘Kaya nakabantay tayo parati, pangalagaan natin ang integrity ng MPBL dahil for how many years ko rin tong binuild and ngayon andiyan na siya, kilala na ang MPBL tapos masisira lang sa mga ganiyang gawain. Nakabantay tayo and I hope na lahat ng mga players na maglaro lang sila ng buong puso and with honesty and integrity.’

Before getting suspended the rest of the season, Bacolod was holding a 3-19 win-loss record.

The team lost multiple games via huge margins – 108-77 against General Santos; 99-52 against Caloocan; 113-61 against Quezon; 128-85 against San Juan; 111-78 against Batangas; 107-72 against Rizal; 113-62 against Bataan; 100-74 against Pasay; 117-80 against Zamboanga; 97-67 against Cebu; and the last was an 84 point, 129-45 drubbing against Abra.

The prosecution team of the House of Representatives will be presenting three witnesses before the Senate impeachment court on Aug. 3, two of whom are auditors from the Commission on Audit who will testify on alleged anomalies in Vice President Sara Duterte’s fund disbursements.

Auditor Roderick Wamil and supervising auditor Celine May del Campo – both from COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office – have already been summoned by the impeachment court, as announced by presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero.

The third witness next week is Director Marivic Pareja of the House’s legislative information resources management department.

Lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro said that they will be shifting focus on tracing the movement of Duterte’s multimillion-peso confidential funds and examine as well how the expenditures were audited.

‘What we will be hearing next… will be the audit process, including the findings, and perhaps the notices of disallowance, and even the decision of COA which sustained the notice of disallowance,’ Luistro said.

She added that the COA auditors are expected to explain how they examined the liquidation of the confidential funds, the deficiencies they found, and the basis for the notices of disallowance.

The prosecution panel earlier presented retired LandBank branch managers Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano, whose testimonies traced the encashment of treasury checks totaling P612.5 million for the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, formerly headed by Duterte.

Luistro said the order of witnesses was deliberate. ‘We wanted to show first how the money moved before presenting the audit that examined how it was spent,’ she said, adding the prosecution may still adjust its witness lineup if developments during the trial make it necessary.

‘As a matter of fact, part of the pre-trial order is a reservation to present even additional evidence or witness should the exigency of the trial demand,’ Luistro said further as the impeachment trial nears its first month on Aug. 6.

Article I of the impeachment complaint accuses Duterte of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds received by the OVP and the DepEd during her tenure there, from mid-2022 until July 2024 when she resigned from Marcos’ Cabinet.

‘Follow the money trail’

The two bank managers who testified before the Senate impeachment court about the ‘unusual’ encashment by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) of P500 million have already laid the foundation for more anomalies, House prosecution spokesman Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said yesterday.

‘In the following weeks, the prosecution will show how VP Sara’s handling of these funds were in complete disregard of her oath of office, which constitutes betrayal of public trust,’ Adiong said.

‘Let us follow the money trail because the explanation to the people from where the funds came from should not end with the four gym bags (where the P500 million in cold cash were placed),’ he added.

Adiong reiterated that the missing P612.5 million in confidential funds does not end with the cash leaving the bank, vowing that more evidence will be presented in the coming weeks on how the money was allegedly spent.

Constantino earlier confirmed that four treasury checks worth P125 million each, or a total of P500 million, for the OVP were encashed by Duterte’s authorized representatives at LandBank Shaw Boulevard between December 2022 and July 2023.

Camposano, meanwhile, testified that three checks worth P37.5 million each, totaling P112.5 million for DepEd, were likewise converted into cash at the LandBank DepEd branch over separate transactions between February and July 2023.

She described the withdrawals as ‘unusual’ because of their size and said the money was taken out through a fire exit instead of the bank’s main entrance.

According to Adiong, the prosecution’s presentation of evidence has so far established only the first step in tracing the movement of confidential funds allocated to the OVP and DepEd.

Madriaga’s claim

The House prosecution panel believes that the testimonies of two former LandBank branch managers bolster the credibility of Ramil Madriaga as these were consistent with his allegations against the Vice President, according to prosecution spokesman Robert Ace Barbers.

Barbers pointed out that the statements of Constantino and Camposano independently matched significant details from Madriaga’s earlier account on how part of Duterte’s confidential funds were handled.

Duterte’s camp has denied Madriaga’s allegations and questioned his credibility. But Barbers pointed to the similarity in the amount involved and the use of several large bags in the separate accounts.

‘it was unusual that the testimony of Madriaga coincided with that of our first witness, who is the bank manager,’ Barbers said.

The prosecution said any decision to call Madriaga as a witness will depend on the progress and requirements of the trial. His credibility and the evidentiary value of any testimony he may give will ultimately be determined by the impeachment court.

Another champion down, another big name added to Alex Eala’s 2026 hit list.

Less than 24 hours after stunning Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen of China, Eala dethroned defending champion Leylah Fernandez with a comeback for the ages to announce her arrival in the hard-court swing in emphatic fashion.

Up against a fancied rival with Filipino roots, the 21-year-old Filipina ace rose from the ashes, erasing a 1-5 deficit in the second set to complete a straight-sets sweep and storm into the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

Eala, the world No. 29, will get a well-deserved day off before returning to action tomorrow for a place in the Final Four against either world No. 10 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine or world No. 108 Polina Kudermetova, set for a Round-of-16 clash.

If Eala banked on big-match experience to slay Paris champion Zheng, it was patience that pushed her over the line against world No. 34 Fernandez, who stood on the brink of forcing a decider.

‘Patience was key there. I was just trying to work it out and have a strong mentality in terms of trying to find solutions,’ said Eala, who unleashed a 6-1 barrage to close it out after a dominant 6-2 opener.

It was sweet revenge for Eala, who bowed to Fernandez, 23, in their first meeting, 6-1, 6-4, on the clay courts of Stuttgart, Germany.

Not this time.

Eala punctuated her staggering fightback with a flawless 7-1 runaway in the tiebreak after Fernandez – the No. 7 seed whose mother is Filipina-Canadian – stopped the bleeding at 6-6 to force the breaker.

According to Tennis Channel, Fernandez was the first fellow left-hander Eala has beaten on the WTA Tour. The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate improved to 32-18 on the season as she builds toward the US Open on Aug. 30 to Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, New York.

For Eala, it was another showcase of the classic Filipino never-say-die spirit – not long after she also unseated Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek of Poland during her magical run to the Round of 16 in London earlier this month.

‘I think it’s just part of my character but then again, every single player here is a fighter. We’re here because we’re all fighters, you can never count anybody out,’ she said.

‘I definitely had some tough moments in that match and credit to Leylah. She put me in some really tough positions, so I think I’m super proud of how I fought and how I stayed there.’

Eala, who is eyeing her third career title after winning in Birmingham during a stellar grass-court campaign, is making the most of her first hard-court tournament of the swing before ramping up her US Open preparations at the National Bank Open in Toronto and the Cincinnati Open next month.

But first things first – rest and recharge for a shot at the last four of the 500-level event.

‘I’m ready if I need to play right away but it’s nice to have a day off,’ she smiled.