Kim, Bagtas steal show, seal title duel

MANILA, Philippines — Korean Kim Tae Soo and Leandro Bagtas pulled off victories over their top seeded rivals in thrilling fashions yesterday to set up a face-off for the Philippine Amateur Open Match Play Championships crown at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac.

Kim, who placed 13th in the 16-player cast that made it through the 36-hole stroke play elims, built a two-hole cushion after nine holes then foiled top ranked and last year’s champion Carl Corpus’ late charge to pound out a 2&1 triumph in their semifinal clash.

Bagtas, on the other hand, hit a clutch par on No. 15 to break an all-square duel with Sean Ramos then matched the second seeded bet’s bogey-par-par windup to snatch a 1-up victory in their side of the Last 4 face-off.

They dispute the crown in another grueling 36-hole finale today.

Laurea Duque, meanwhile, blasted Korean Kim Ga Yeon, 4&3, to move within a draw from claiming the girls’ crown via sweep under a novel round-robin format in the event sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation and serving as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Tour.

Duque, who earlier thumped Kristine Fleetwood, 8&6, and Bang Hee Yeon, 4&3, then edged Laia Barro, 2&1, hiked her total to four points and will go for the clincher against second-running Rianne Malixi, also today.

Malixi, overall winner of the recent Philippine Junior Amateur Open, ripped Fleetwood, 6&4, to up her haul to three points, needing a win over Duque to steal the crown.

Barro also came away with a 4&3 romp over Bang to improve to 2.5 points while Kim and Bang stayed in the bottom with 1.5 points and one point, respectively.

In boys’ play, Kim and Bagtas rode on their big quarterfinal triumphs early in the day with the former leaning on a three-hole cushion against the 12th-ranked Paolo Wong after 11 holes before hanging tough for a 1-up victory.

Bagtas, meanwhile, needed an extra hole to escape past Jacob Rolida.