Puyat, Ardina move to US Juniors match play

MANILA, Philippines - ICTSI golf scholars Marcel Puyat and Dottie Ardina scrambled with over par rounds to salvage spots in the match play event of the 62nd US Juniors Amateur and Girls Juniors Championships, respectively, in Bedminster, New Jersey Tuesday.

Puyat recovered from a poor front nine stint of 41 in the second round of the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying with two birdies in the last nine holes as he wound up with a second straight 75 for a 150 at Old Course of the Trump National Golf Club.

That tied him with four other players in 41st place as he secured a spot in the knockout phase of the event featuring the top junior players in the world.

Puyat, an 11th grader at Leadbetter Academy, faces Anthony Paoluci of Texas, who tied for 23rd with a 148 after a 76, in the first round of the knockout phase.

Texan Jordan Spieth, a semifinalist last year, strung up solid rounds of 68-69 for a 137 to gain

 the low medalist honors, three ahead of Anton Arboleda of California, who had a 140 after a 72.

Ardina, 15, also matched her awful opening round of 78 and barely made it to the next phase at joint 50th with a 156.

Teeing off at the backside of Trump National Golf Club’s New Course, the reigning national champion back home who also won the PNGA (Pacific Northwest Golf Association) crown in Oregon, dropped seven strokes in her first 14 holes, birdied two of the next three but bogeyed No. 9 for a 38-40 card.

She takes on Canadian Rebecca Lee-Bentham, who finished with a 149 after matching par 72, in the first round of the match play event.