PRESS RELEASE
Rupert Zaragosa and Lois Kaye Go carved out victories in varying fashions to share top honors in the first MVPSF Visayas Regional Match Play Championship at the Cebu Country Club here Friday.
But while Zaragosa scored an expected 6&5 romp over local bet Rolando Pila to run away with the men’s crown, Go pulled off a 2-up triumph over reigning national amateur stroke play champion Harmie Constantino in their own side of the grueling 36-hole duel in scorching heat.
Zaragosa, winner of a number of titles in the ranks, imposed his will early, going 4-up after 18 holes in morning play before cruising to victory in the afternoon match.
The lopsided triumph capped Zaragosa’s domination of the week-long event sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and the Philippine Sports Commission that saw the diminutive Canlubang mainstay top the 36-hole stroke play elims and romp off with emphatic wins all throughout the knockout phase.
The 16-year-old Go, on the other hand, rallied from one-hole down in the morning play with clutch pars in the stretch to turn back Constantino, foiling her rival’s bid to extend the marathon match by taking the final hole and claiming her biggest victory in a young career before an appreciative hometown gallery.
Like Zaragosa, Go lorded it over the ladies field in the qualifier as she finished six strokes ahead of Constantino. She also strung up three victories in emphatic fashions to set up a title clash with Constantino.
Jolo Magcalayo, whom Zaragosa beat, 3&2, in Friday’s semis, nipped Marko Sarmiento on the 19th hole to snare third place honors in the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines while Kristine Torralba placed third in the ladies side with a walkover win over Angela Mangana.
Meanwhile, the NGAP will stage the Philippine Junior Amateur Open Golf Championship (Stroke Play) on April 14-17 at Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Cavite before holding the Philippine Amateur Open Match Play Golf Championship on April 25-29 at the Orchard Golf and Country Club in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
List up is ongoing with fee pegged at P3,000 for local players, P4,000 for foreign bets and P1,500 for CCC members. For details, call the NGAP at (02) 5179778 or 7065926.
