Zaragosa, Ardina score towering wins

MANILA, Philippines - What he lacked in size, Ruperto Zaragosa made up with his enormous talent as he upended John Kier Abdon, 3&2, in the 36-hole finale to become the youngest winner of the Philippine Amateur Closed Championship at Wack Wack’s East course yesterday.

Barely five feet, the 13-year-old Zaragosa played with grit and spunk as he fought back from two holes down after 25, taking four of the next five from No. 30 to turn back Abdon and shatter the previous mark of Carito Villaroman and Artemio Murakami, who won at age 15.

“I’m very happy not only because of the record, but because I proved to myself that I can play against players bigger and older than me,” Zaragosa, an incoming sophomore at Don Bosco-Canlubang, said.

Sharing the spotlight was Dottie Ardina, who stopped ICTSI teammate Chihiro Ikeda, 2&1, in their own side of the duel to bag the ladies crown in the weeklong event presented by Pancake House and SOC Land.

Ardina also battled back from five holes down after 13 and drew level after 22 before outduelling Ikeda in their hunt for birdies in the closing holes to reclaim the crown she won in 2009 at Eastridge and pocket his third major championship this year.

After forcing an all-square match on their second trip to No. 3, Ardina went three-up after 33 holes as she pounced on Ikeda’s back-to-back bogeys from No. 14 for the second straight time in the day. The Fil-Japanese birdied No. 15 to close in again but Ardina matched her rival’s par on the 17th to secure a 2&1 victory in the event backed by Great Depot, Callaway and Odyssey Golf and organized by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

“I never lost hope even after I went five holes down. But it was a tough win,” said Ardina, who also won the Queen Sirikit individual crown and the True Vision Junior title early in the year.

It was a sorry setback for Ikeda, who looked headed for a romp when she took five of the next seven holes from No. 7 in the early going. But she fumbled with bogeys from No. 14 and 15 then lost Nos. 17 and 18 to settle for a 1-up lead at the break.

Like Ikeda, Abdon, a member of the ICTSI-Canlubang pool, had control of the match after taking two of the first five holes of the second 18 before Zaragosa birdied No. 7 – their 26th hole – and made a routine par on the ninth, which Abdon bogeyed, to force an all-square match.

“It wasn’t bad, it’s still my best finish in the (Philippine) Amateurs,” the 20-year-old Abdon said. “He (Zaragosa) played a great match.”

Zaragosa, after squaring the match going into the last nine holes, fell behind by one again after missing the 11th green.

But he made gutsy pars in the next two holes to go 1-up, halved No. 14 with another par, before gunning down a birdie on No. 15 from six feet and pouncing on errant tee-shot by Abdon on the 16th to go 3-up.