Cyna seeks 5th crown at LPGT Sherwood

MANILA, Philippines - Cyna Rodriguez hopes to close out the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour season the way she opened it – in big fashion – as she guns for a fifth victory in the ICTSI Sherwood Ladies Championship which reels off Nov. 25 at Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Trece Martires, Cavite.

Rodriguez beat Jayvie Agojo by five in the kickoff leg of this year’s ICTSI LPGT at Orchard and went on to win three straight – in runaway fashions – at John Hay, Mt. Malarayat and Eagle Ridge.

But Thailand’s Amolkan Phalajivin foiled her bid for a fourth straight at Splendido then Dottie Ardina, on a break from her Symetra Tour campaign in the US, returned to dominate the penultimate leg of the eight-stage circuit sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. at Valley.

But with Ardina and Mia Piccio, who placed second at Valley, now back in the US, Rodriguez looms as the top favorite, along with Phalijvin and Riviera leg winner Jayvie Agojo and title-hungry Chihiro Ikeda in the season-ending tournament which offers a record LPGT purse of P750,000.

Rodriguez is also out to atone for her dismal showing at Valley where she hobbled to place joint sixth with amateur Sofia Chabon of Team ICTSI, her worst finish in a dominant campaign in the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and backed by Nike, Pacsports, Custom Clubmakers and Sharp.

But Rodriguez expects a tougher challenge this time with Phalajivin, who placed third at Valley, likewise raring to nail a second leg win together with Agojo, who hopes to snap out of a long slump in the country’s premier women’s golf circuit.

A slew of others will also be going all out to contend for a breakthrough win, including Ikeda, perhaps the best player never to win a leg in the two-year old circuit and former national team mainstays Anya Tanpinco and Sarah Ababa.

Lovelynn Guioguio, another former amateur hotshot, has had a number of solid starts but faltered when the going gets tough. She, however, hopes to toughen up this time and put herself in contention in the final round.

Others seeing action are former Philippine Ladies Open champion Heidi Chua, Lina de Guzman, Apple Fudolin, Lucy Landicho, Eva Miñoza, Majorie Pulumbarit, Jan Punzalan, Tracy Que and Sylvia Torres.