Lu pounces on Jayvie’s collapse, wins in playoff

Disaster struck local bet Jayvie Marie Agojo as she bungled a big lead then lost to Lu Hsiao-ching of Taiwan in a three-hole playoff for the girls crown yesterday in the inaugural Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Masters championships at the Legends course of the Manila Southwoods.

Lu, a 15-year-old from Tamsui, pounced on a Agojo’s final-round collapse with a two-under-par 70 to force the playoff and showed steely nerves in the extension watched by a big hometown crowd.

After a miracle save for bogey on the first extra hole — the 18th — where he drove out-of-bounds, Agojo missed a short four-footer for par on the next hole (No. 10) and allowed the Taiwanese to step ahead with a two-putt par.

The end for Agojo came in their next trip to the 18th as Lu reached the green in regulation and holed a four-footer to match the RP bet’s par.

Lu erased a six-stroke deficit with her 70 as Agojo blew up with a 76. They both wound up with similar 221 totals for 54 holes. Ya Ni Tseng, also of Taiwan, closed out with a 73 to finish third at 222.

In the boys division, Hua Yeng-tseng of Taiwan made the chase for the crown exciting as well, moving to within three strokes of two-day leader Keisuke Sato of Japan.

Hua, matching par 72 for the day, could have grabbed the lead from Sato if not for a sorry triple bogey-bogey finish that put to waste a four-under card he had worked for through 16 holes.

Hua, trailing by seven strokes at the start of the round, reduced the deficit to a more manageable three with a 223 aggregate. Sato held sway for the third straight day despite a four-over 76.

Also staying in contention were Thai bets Chinarat who was at 224 after firing the day’s best round of one-under 71, Anujit Hiranratnakorn (75-225) and Ekalux Waisayakul (76-227).

Sato had an even-par 144 aggregate with Anujit Hiranratanakorn trailing him at 150 after a 76. Hu-Yen Tseng and Ekalux Waisayakul had 80s and shared third place at 151 with Ming-Hsin Chen of Chinese-Taipei who had the day’s best score of 73.

The Philippine entries, meanwhile, gasped for breath in the face of superior foreign opposition in 72-hole boys competition. Laurence Negrido (78) was at 236, Justin Limjap 77-240, Miko Alejandro 77-242 and Jasper Braga 85-247.