GEN. TRIAS, Cavite – Chihiro Ikeda banked on a huge overnight lead as she survived a horrendous final round meltdown to claim her second championship in the last four legs of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, beating Sarah Ababa by two despite a five-over 77 here yesterday.
Ikeda had built a six-shot cushion over Harmie Constantino and amateur Mikha Fortuna after 36 holes of the P1.5 million championship but went through some anxious moments before pulling through in the ICTSI Eagle Ridge at Aoki Invitational on a performance that was in stark contrast to her blistering second round 68 Wednesday.
“I played bad but still won,” said Ikeda, who banked P202,500 in a victory that came after she reigned at Mt. Malarayat last May.
“I was a little bit tired and failed to play steady. But I just kept on fighting” added the Manila Southwoods and AsiaGlobal Technologies-backed pro, who honed her skills under swing coach Bong Lopez.
She did birdie the opening hole to pad her lead but bogeyed three of the next four for a 38. She yielded two strokes on the daunting par-4 No. 13, bogeyed the next before wrapping up her 38-39 in a birdie-bogey fashion for a 216 total.
GRIPPING FINISH
But through her struggle, her rivals had failed to pounce in, although Ababa, who started the last 18 holes seven shots off Ikeda, came in threateningly close in the other flight with a birdie on No. 13 for a running two-under card against Ikeda’s four-over output.
In men’s side, Michael Bibat and Tony Lascuña closed out in scorching fashions and forced a three-way tie for the lead as Lloyd Go slowed down with a 72.
Bibat sustained a late frontside rally with three birdies in the last seven holes in dark skies as he bounced back from a second round 72 with the day’s best six-under 66 while Lascuña checked an impending fold-up by going four-under in the last five, spiked by an eagle on No. 16, for a 68.
The veteran pair with contrasting records on the Philippine Golf Tour thus pooled a 54-hole aggregate of nine-under 207, catching Go at the helm after the young Cebuano find, who led the elite field by two halfway through the P2 million championship, settled for a one-birdie, one-bogey round after posting the first six-under card in his big, surprise charge Wednesday.
But Go proved his worth while enduring shaky putting, at least against seasoned and multi-titled Angelo Que and Dutch Guido Van der Valk in the featured flight, rescuing a couple of pars to keep himself in the mix of things for a shot at a breakthrough win after a joint fifth place finish at Splendido last month.
But ranged against a hungry Bibat, still in pursuit of a second victory after winning at Rancho Palos Verdes way back in 2015, and a multi-titled Lascuña, who flashed vintage form to put himself among the frontrunners, Go said he’d try to make it simple in a bid to complete a top podium finish in this fourth leg of this year’s tour put up by ICTSI.
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