Pinay golfers bow out in semifinals

MANILA, Philippines - Princess Superal and Pauline del Rosario failed to sustain a birdie start and took a stinging 3&2 setback to the young pair of Angelina Kim and Brianna Navarrosa in the semifinal round of US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship Match Play at the Streamsong Blue at Streamsong Resort in Florida Wednesday.

The top-seeded Filipinas birdied the opening hole but dropped five of the next nine holes as Kim and Navarrosa, both 13-year-olds, surprised them with awesome iron shots and superb putting to go 4-up with eight holes to play.

Superal and Del Rosario birdied No. 11 and eagled No. 14 to move within two but Kim birdied the next then the American pair matched The Country Club bets’ par on No. 16 to clinch the match and advance to the finals.

But Kim and Navarrosa three-putted the first playoff hole on No. 1, enabling the seventh-ranked Hailee Cooper and Kaitlyn Papp to snare the crown in the second staging of the USGA-conducted event.

Cooper and Papp earlier whipped No. 30 Alexandra Austin and Lauren Greenlief, 4&3, in their side of the Final Four.

Cooper and Papp went 2-up with birdies in the opening hole but Kim and Navarrosa fought back with their own version of birdies on Nos. 11 and 14 to force an all-square match. They matched pars in the last four to extend their duel to an extra hole.

But Navarrosa pushed her 10-foot par putt and Kim lipped out from four feet as Papp clinched the win for their side with a two-putt par.

The semifinalists, meanwhile, are exempt from qualifying for next year’s championship, provided the sides remain intact. But Del Rosario is linking up with the University of Kansas while Superal is poised to join the pro ranks later this year.