MANILA, Philippines – Immaculate Conception Academy (ICA) and Xavier captured the championships in the lower school and middle school categories of the recent National Finals of the Inter-School tournament of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines (JGFP) at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.
Bannered by Andrea Dee, Camille Sy, Laura Pablo, Islay Banggayan, and Stephanie Gaisano-Gan, ICA rallied in the back nine to score a heart-stopping 3-2 win against its San Juan neighbor La Salle Green Hills (LSGH).
The golfers from LSGH were in control, ahead by three holes in all five matches through nine holes. But their determined opponents from ICA rallied back in the final nine holes to win the title.
After a 5&4 win by Lauro Delen for LSGH against Dee, ICA responded as Pablo drained birdie on the 17th to beat Sebastian Darjuan 2&1. Gaisano-Gan, who had touring pro Christopher de los Santos as her caddie, came up with a big 2&1 win over Asher Abad despite trailing by as many as four holes.
Despite Lilia Bonifacio’s 2-up win for LSGH against Sy, Bangayan scored a 3&2 victory over Joseph Lacap to complete the comeback for a 3-2 win for ICA, which played without its top player Winter Serapio, who begged off due to a prior commitment.
“This win is incredibly sweet,” said ICA captain Rica Dee. “We came into the national finals as the underdogs because we were missing our top player. But the girls rose to the challenge and proved what they’re made of.”
In the middle school team final, Xavier Team 2 took the title by default over Assumption.
At Royale Tagaytay — the venue for the JGFP D-League Interschool Match Play — ICA’s Lavigne Yu and Chloe Lim claimed individual girls titles as the former defeated Saki Co with a commanding 4&3 victory in the Senior High while the latter came out victorious with a playoff win over Renz dela Paz to win the Junior High.
Other winners are Enzo Cham (boys’ senior high), Nathan Yeung (boys’ junior high), Inigo Camposano the (boys’ middle school), and Jacqueline Dy (girls’ Middle School) all emerged victorious in their respective divisions.
*Match play is an incredible way to train junior golfers, said Gan, who was present during the awarding ceremony with JGFP treasurer AJ Adiviso.
Gan said that the next round of senior high and junior high match play competitions would take place on March 15-16 at Mt. Malarayat. – Rappler.com