Delasin PSA top athlete

Golfer Dorothy Delasin, who became the youngest player to win an LPGA event in 25 years, was unanimously voted PSA Athlete of the Year, marking the first time a Filipino-American talent was awarded the highest recognition of achievement by the country’s oldest sportswriting organization.

Delasin, who spearheaded the bid of the Philippine team thrice, including in the 1996 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta where she won the individual gold, will arrive Jan. 17 to personally receive the prestigious award and renew her ties with the Filipino people, who had witnessed her exploits in the LPGA Tour through the internet, cable television and the local newspapers.

The PSA Awards Night, sponsored by Red Bull and Agfa and supported by McDonald’s, will be held Jan. 18 at the Holiday Inn Manila. President Estrada has been invited as guest of honor and will present the award to the PSA top athlete.

Delasin won 55 votes from 60 members of the sportswriting fraternity, who compose the PSA. She beat boxer Malcolm Tunacao, the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight champion.

Delasin, who scored a breakthrough win in the Giant Eagle Classic in July to emerge the youngest winner of an LPGA event since LPGA Tour Hall of Famer Amy Alcott won the Orange Blossom Classic in 1975, will be accompanied by his dad Sonny, mom Salfe and sisters Divina and Dodessa and brother Arsenio, Jr.

She is also set to become the first Fil-Am to receive the Louise Suggs Trophy for winning the Rolex Rookie of the Year award in Florida on Jan. 8.

Delasin, who was born in Lubbuck, Texas and raised in Daly City, California, will be coming from the kickoff leg of this year’s LPGA Tour in Orlando, Florida, the JC Penney Afterschool Open slated Jan. 12-14.

She, however, will be skipping the Subaru Memorial Classic set Jan. 18-21, also in Florida, where she placed 36th last year.

Delasin’s remarkable campaign on the US golf circuit on her rookie year will surely go down as one of the most cherished moments in Philippine sports since it came at a time when the country is reeling from a series of debacles in the international sporting front.

Aside from a stint with the SEA Games squad, Delasin also spearheaded the RP team in the 1996 World Amateurs at Sta. Elena and competed in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games where she helped the team win the bronze medal.

In her rookie year on the circuit, Delasin made 17 of 26 cuts and recorded seven top 20-finishes. She closed out the season with $339,112 in earnings, ranking 25th on the season-ending money list.