Cebuano Llloyd Jefferson Go found himself struggling in the last round of the Philippine Amateur Open at the East Course of Wack-Wack Golf club, but despite that, he had more than enough to cruise to an 11-shot victory.
The 18-year-old, who calls Cebu Country Club as home, but is now a golf scholar at Seton Hall in New Jersey, fired four-over-par 76 on the final round, his worst in the 72-hole event, but finished with an aggregate of 291 strokes.
He fired rounds of 72, 72 and 71 during the first three days taking the lead midway through the tournament.
He beat highly-regarded Jobim Carlos, who settled for second while third place went to Singaporean Jerome Ng.
Carlos and Ng both finished with totals of 302 strokes, but the Filipino won the higher award by virtue of a countback.
Cebu-based Japanese teenager Gen Nagai settled for fourth place, two strokes behind Carlos and Ng while Justin Quiban, a member of the national team, settled for fifth place.
Go, who is set to fly back to the United States next week, said, “I’m very happy because I finally won a tournament.”
He admitted getting tired on the final round and the swirling winds compounded his woes.
Sixth place went to Johnson Poh while Marc Ong was seventh. Rounding up the top ten were Jik-Jik Abdon, Gabriel Atienza, and Abdul Hadi.
Go, who finished high school at the Centre for International Education (CIE) in Cebu, entered the final round at one-under-par for the tournament.
He dropped to even-par after a bogey on the 8th, which features a camel back green, then dropped a shot further with another bogey on the ninth.
Go came back with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th before hitting four straight bogeys on the remaining holes.
Go and Nagai are products of the junior golf program of Cebu Country Club. They are also key members of the team that won back-to-back titles in the annual Philippine Airlines Interclub Tournament, which is regarded as the national inter-club championships.—from PR
