Princess Superal showed class and steely resolve against three world-class rivals and captured the Asia Pacific Cup individual crown with a gem of a finish in Jakarta Saturday.
And what a game it was for the ICTSI-backed Superal.
Ranked only No. 924 in the world, Superal produced another solid game – a 67 – and won the inaugural $750,000 championship over world No. 4 Lydia Ko, No. 8 Hyo Joo Kim and No. 46 So Yeon Ryu.
The three seasoned rivals have a combined five major championships.
And she won by three over Ryu after tallying a three-day aggregate of 12-under 204 spiked by an opening bogey-free 66.
Ryu is an eight-time LPGA Tour winner, including the 2011 US Women’s Open and the 2017 Chevron Championship.
She won the princely $100,000 (P5.5 million) purse although she actually took home a net $80,000 (P4.5 millio9n), still doubling her earnings in a six-year pro career highlighted by a number of victories on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.
More importantly, the emphatic win more than proved she can slug it out with some of the world’s best, finishing with 13 birdies against just one birdie at the very venue where she reigned in the Pondok Indah Junior Championship in 2015.
Ryu, who took command of the first 18 holes with a fiery 65 but fumbled with a 75 Friday, birdied the last two holes to match Superal’s closing five-under card as she snatched solo second at 207.
Ko, whose victories in the 2015 Evian and the 2016 Chevron Championships and 15 other wins highlight a prolific LPGA career, missed sharing runner-up honors with a missed birdie putt from five feet on the 18th as she ended up third at 208 after a 70.
Keeping her emotions in check all throughout, Superal finally broke down as she hugged long-time pal and teammate Pauline del Rosario after holing out with a par on another muffed birdie chance, her third straight after draining in her last birdie putt from way out on No. 15 that all but sealed the outcome.
It was just too bad that del Rosario failed to recover from a disastrous bogey and double-bogey mishaps in the first two holes, dropping three more shots against two birdies, the last on No. 18 securing the Philippines’ second place finish in team competition ruled by Korea 2 team made up of Ryu and Bomee Lee.
