Superals pull off rare sweep; Tabuena wins in playoff

The Superal siblings — Wolen, Crystal Faith and Princess — completed their family triple-kill, as expected, all in runaway fashion and Miguel Tabuena provided the drama by winning boys Class D via a sudden-death playoff yesterday in the opening leg of the 2004 Philippine Junior Golf Tour at the Canlubang north and Riviera executive courses.

Tabuena rode on a birdie on the last hole of regulation for a two-shot swing that got him into a playoff with Bino dela Paz. After exchanging pars on the first two extra holes, Tabuena claimed the thrilling win when he two-putted for par and watched dela Paz miss a tying five-footer that led to a bogey.

A huge gallery of jungolfers and parents followed the playoff that put both 10-year-olds in a big test of pressure.

Blowouts punctuated most of the other divisions with Wolen Superal (74-223) topping boys Class C (11-12 years) by 25 strokes, his elder sister Crystal Faith (80-250) topping girls Class B (13-14 yrs) by 16 and their youngest sister Princess (76-226) ruling Class E (7-8 yrs) by 22.

Dottie Ardina, the former world jungolf champion, routed the field in girls Class D by 28 strokes with her closing even-par 72 for a 225 aggregate.

Korean Kim Chang-hoi emerged as boys Class A champ when two-day leader Gino Bunyi had a last-day collapse. Kim shot 72-219, beating Tonton Asistio, who submitted the tournament’s second sub-par round of 71 for 221, by two. Bunyi soared to an 80 and settled for third at 225.

The next leg of the Tour supported by Samsung, DHL Philippines, Philippine Airlines and ICTSI bossman Ricky Razon, will be played at Camp John Hay in Baguio on April 12-15 with the qualifying for the Callaway Junior World championships set to follow at Sherwood Hills on April 19-22.

The other winners were Matet Salivio in girls Class A, Junro Mamaril in boys Class B, Cyna Rodriguez in girls Class C, JR Gonzales in boys Class E and Justin Dy and Janella Buen in the six-years and under division.