Shin cruises to 5-point win in RP Ladies Open

CAGAYAN DE ORO – Korean Crystal Shin sustained her fine form and churned out another solid 61-point performance to score a runaway five-point victory over former RP Ladies Open champion Chihiro Ikeda in the Southern Ladies Amateur Golf Championship here yesterday.

It was Shin’s third victory in the annual event after essaying back-to-back triumphs in Del Monte and Iloilo from 2006 but this one proved sweetest since she bested the cream of the country’s ladies amateur crop by a wide margin.

She was actually expecting a down-to-the-wire finish after barely holding off Ikeda’s charge in the second round of the 54-hole championship for a one-point edge in Molave play. But she showed brilliant shotmaking and superb iron play that produced an early run of birdies, which Ikeda failed to match a day after the Fil-Japanese turned in a record nine-under 63 worth 63 points at the Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club last Friday.

That enabled Shin to cruise to a trouble-free win, finishing with a 178 aggregate after that 61 equivalent to a seven-under par in stroke play.

So solid was Shin’s game that she pulled away by seven points at the turn and went nine-under after 12 holes before settling for the five-point victory.

“I am very, very happy for this win and I dedicate this victory to my father and the officials and caddies of Pueblo for their support and to the Southern Ladies organizers,” said the 16-year-old Shin, now with Pueblo after playing for Del Monte the past three years.

Ikeda, spearhead of the ICTSI squad, closed out with a three-under 69 worth 57 points for a 173 total while reigning RP Ladies Open winner Louise Manalo failed to come up with a big finish and fumbled with a 53 or a one-over par 73. She wound up third with a 167.

Alice Ll. Andrada, NGAP director and chair of the ladies committee and club president Rudy Menes awarded the trophies and prizes to the winners in the event backed by WWWExpress-DHL (trophies), Hans Brumann, DPC Yellow Pages, Koresco Hotel (official hotel), Oroport Cargo Handling Services, PARASAT Cable TV, Four S Agritrade, the Philippine Sports Commision and Hans Brumann and hole-in-one sponsors Mizuno, EMCOR and Lechon Manok ni San Pedro.

Having won on her home course, Shin will be as much tested as the rest of the field when she competes in the WWWExpress-DHL National Amateur Golf Championship set Feb. 10-13 at the Canlubang golf complex.

Merakel Embalzada of ICTSI topped the Class A division with a 143, five points ahead of Claudine Garcia (138) while Pamela Mariano took the Class B plum with a 126 for another five-point win over Celine Meñes, who had a 121.

Kaye Tabanas copped the Class C title with 124 for a whopping 23-point victory over Mariano Oliquino (101) while Julia You wound up with an 80 for a four-point triumph over Marissa Hogg, who had a 76.

Virginia Bote scored 81 points after a 41 to capture the seniors plum over Veronica Wuson and Leni Cabili, who both had 79s from 39 and 44 points, respectively, while the ICTSI 2 team of Sarah Ababa, Carmelette Villaroman, Sheryl Villavicencio and Embalzada, pooled 256 to rule the team championship, beating Del Monte (252) and ICTSI I (243).