Asistio, Ababa head RP team to Nomura tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Antonio Asistio II topped the Nomura Cup qualifier despite a closing six-over par 78 while Jhonnel Ababa carded a one-under par 71 to regain his spot in the national team at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite yesterday.

Asistio, who secured his place in the squad with a 67 Wednesday, never recovered from a quadruple bogey on the par-5 seventh and limped home with a 41-37 card although he still topped the 108-hole elims conducted by the National Golf Association of the Phils. with a 437.

Ababa, who started the final round in fourth place, made two birdies against a bogey for a 35-36 round to clinch runner-up honors with a 438 as Mhark Fernando and Peter Villaber faltered with over par scores and barely survived the charging Albin Engino for the last two spots.

Fernando, the reigning national champion, blew a two-under card after three holes as he fumbled with two bogeys and three double-bogeys for a 78 and wound up third with a 439.

Villaber dropped four strokes in the last two holes, including a triple-bogey seven on the 18th for a 77 and was lucky to clinch the fourth and last berth in the team with a 440.

Engino, seven shots behind Ababa at the start of the day, charged back with three birdies for a 33 but could just hit one birdie at the back for a bogey-free 68. He, however, fell short of his bid to snatch a berth in the team and settled for fifth with a 442.

Rufino Bayron, whose seven-under 65 in the final round lifted Team RP to third place in the recent Putra Cup in Thailand, struggled all day and bombed out with a 79-447 in the elims held in cooperation with the Riveria Golf and Country Club.

Asistio and Villaber of the ICTSI golf team and Calatagan’s Ababa and Fernando will thus banner the squad slugging it out with the best teams in the Asia-Pacific region in the Nomura Cup slated Sept. 15-18 in Seoul, Korea.