Del Rosario, Arevalo snare crowns

SAN DIEGO, California – Pauline del Rosario and Kristopher Arevalo kept the Philippines’ great winning tradition in the Junior World Golf Championships, pulling off a pair of victories to complete a grand sweep of the 13-14 crowns in the annual blue-ribbon event here Thursday.

Del Rosario, a high school student from La Salle-Zobel, copped the girls crown on a brilliant final shot at The Country Club of Rancho Bernardino at mid-afternoon.

Arevalo completed the twin-kill for the Philippines almost two hours later as he fired a three-under 68 and saw his chief rivals melt under pressure one after the other at the Morgan Run Resort.

As overnight leader Davis Shore (75-209) wavered early, Arevalo gunned down five birdies against a double-bogey, turning a two-stroke deficit into a three-shot win over Thai Puwit Anunpansuebsai.

The Filipino lad finished at nine-under 204 with sub-par rounds of 70-66-68.

Del Rosario, a mainstay of Team ICTSI, delivered a nail-biter early on, stealing the girls’ crown from hometown lass Haley Moore on an excellent wedge shot on the par-5 final hole.

The 14-year-old Filipina hit a 40-yard shot to within a foot of the cup for a gimme birdie – the one and only time she took the lead from Moore.

Also about 40 yards to the pin after a good drive and a layup, the fancied club bet hit her third shot 25 feet short and subsequently missed her own birdie putt, thus, yielding the chance to end a long 26-year title drought by San Diego kids in world jungolf.

Setting a course-record 62 at Twin Oaks earlier in the year, Moore was in a hot run and leading all throughout until she bogeyed the 16th on a poor chip.

In an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with Moore in the last three holes, Del Rosario didn’t blink and kept her own run following a victory in the one-day US Girls Junior qualifying event at the Stallion Mountain Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada earlier in the month.

“It’s unexpected. When I came here, I didn’t expect that I’ll be making it to the Top 5 because the players in my division were really good. I’m so happy to win this prestigious event,” said Del Rosario, who also thanked her family, coaches and ICTSI boss Ricky Razon for supporting her.

Del Rosario will ride the momentum of this world jungolf triumph as she competes in the US Girls Junior Championship at the Sycamore Hills in Indiana next week.

Without a bogey in the final 36 holes, she finished at 10-under 206 with rounds of 68-70-68, winning by one over Moore who churned out 66-71-70.

It’s a fulfilling win for Del Rosario who took the sport seriously only in the last few months after a near three-year hiatus.

The Philippines, however, missed a treble as two-day 11-12 division leader Mikhaella Fortuna squandered four strokes in a six-hole stretch from No. 6 and settled for second behind Japanese Miyabi Tezuka.

Fortuna carded a final-round 75 after a three-under 70 and an even-par 73 at Rancho Bernardo Inn.

Jed Dy and Aidric Jose Chan, running second after 36 holes in their respective divisions, also failed to get going and missed podium finish.

Over at Torrey Pines North, Lou Daniella Uy improved from third to second place after submitting a two-under 70 for a 54-hole aggregate of 214.

Hawaii bet Mariel Galdiano, however, firmed up her hold of the lead going to the Friday medal play, shooting a 69 for a 208.

Bianca Pagdanganan and Princess Superal shared sixth spot 10 strokes behind after a 70 and 71, respectively.

At Torrey Pines South, Fil-Am Rico Hoey bombed out of contention for rare back-to-back crowns in the centerpiece boys’ 15-17 event after a seven-over 79.

At the start of the last 18 holes Friday, leader Jose Mendez (68-71-71) is at six-under 210, nine strokes ahead of Hoey.

The other winners were Thai Ratchanon Chantananuwat (boys’ six-under), Texas’ Katy Maye Huang (girls’ six-under), Japanese Kuranosuke (boys’ 7-8), Florida’s Alexa Pano (girls’ 7-8), Newport Coast’ Alex Yang (boys’ 9-10), Texas’ Mason Nome (boys’ 11-12), Japanese Miyabi Tezuka (girls’ 11-12).