Guioguio 3rd in NZ golf

MANILA, Philippines - Lovelynn Guioguio closed out with a solid three-under par 70 to snatch third place honors in the NZ Women’s Stroke Play Championship ruled by local bet Caroline Bon at the Napier Golf Club in New Zealand Friday.

Guioguio, one of the newest members of the ICTSI golf team, showed superb staying power in the grueling 36-hole final day, ramming in five birdies, including three straight from No. 11, to negate her two-bogey mishaps in the last 18 holes on a cool, wind-raked afternoon.

She wound up with a 296 that included rounds of 73, 76 and 77, as she finished third behind Bon, who saved her best for last with a 69 and a 289. Bon beat compatriot Cecilia Cho, who had a 70 for a 294, by five strokes.

Chihiro Ikeda, whose teamup with Guioguio netted them the NZ foursomes crown earlier in the week, had a decent 74 round in the morning game but lost her steam in the last 18 holes, limping with a 77 and finishing in 16th place with a 307 total.

Still, the RP duo qualified for the NZ Amateur Championship, a match play event featuring the top 32 players in the stroke play competition slated at the nearby Hastings Golf Club Sunday.

As No. 3 seed Guioguio will take on No. 30 Liv Cheng, also of NZ, while Ikeda clashes with No. 17 Emily Perry at the start of the knockout phase.

Guioguio, who started the last 36 holes in joint fifth, struggled with five bogeys with only a birdie to show in the morning game and dropped out of the Top 5. But the talented Davaoeno shotmaker came back strong in the afternoon, bucking the cool weather and blustery wind to knock down birdies on Nos. 1, 3, 11, 12 and 13 that more than made up for her missed-green bogeys on Nos. 2 and 10.

The ICTSI duo, with coaches Bong Lopez and Nestor Mendoza acting as their caddies, tried out the Hastings course Saturday in a bid to familiarize themselves with the challenging layout for Sunday’s start of the matchplay.