MANILA, Philippines - Ira Christian Alido needed only a one-under par 70 to wipe out the 10-stroke lead of Rupert Zaragosa before the round and force a sudden death where he won on the first hole to rule the eighth Faldo Series Philippines Championship at the Beverly Place Golf Club in Pampanga recently.
Alido, of De La Salle Zobel, snared five birdies for an inward 32 and a closing one-under-par 70, while Zaragosa, who had earlier rounds of 65-69, just couldn’t do things right, finishing with a 78 from three successive bogeys to open the back nine and a double-bogey seven in the 17th.
Zaragosa ended the 54-hole World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) event with a three-day aggregate of one-under 212, losing out on the overall title to Alido in the 14th leg of the record-breaking 2015-2016 Faldo Series Asia season.
For Zaragosa, 284th in the WAGR, there was at least the consolation of winning the Boys’ Under-18 category, which ensured him a passage to Mission Hills China next March for the 10th anniversary Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, to be hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.
Aside from Zaragosa and Alido, also flying the Phl flag at Mission Hills are age group winners Jan Philippe De Claro (Boys’ U-21), Rev Alcantara (Girls’ U-21) and Ashia Nocum (Girls’ U-16).
“Congratulations to Ira on a spectacular performance and also to Rupert for his outstanding play on the first two days,” said six-time Major winner Faldo, Britain’s most successful golfer.
“At any level of golf, to overhaul a 10-shot deficit with just nine holes to go is a remarkable effort. Ira deserves tremendous credit for persevering and refusing to throw in the towel. It just goes to show that in golf you have to keep going to the very end and try your hardest on every single shot. If you do that, you never know what might happen.”