Dizon wins title by seven shots; Villaroman wins in extra hole

Marlon Dizon watched the Southwoods boys fade early, then took a leisurely walk in the backnine en route to a record-setting victory in the seventh DHL-NGAP amateur golf championship at the Canlubang north course.

Dizon, a member of the silver medal-winning 1998 Bangkok Asian Games team, put an exclamation point to his rousing conquest of the field with a chip-in birdie on the final hole, giving him a four-under-par 68 and the largest ever winning margin of seven strokes with an impressive 280 aggregate.

He finished far ahead of reigning national amateur champion Angelo Que who took a double-bogey on the sixth and never got to contend again. Que shot a 73 for 287.

The ladies division battle in the event sponsored by DHL with the support of Wide Wide World Express was in extreme contrast as Carmelette Villaroman was forced to a three-hole playoff by jungolf star Jayvie Agojo before earning her third straight crown.

Villaroman went through two pressure-packed holes before Agojo hit her approach on the third extra hole, the No. 18, short and into the water hazard. Still, Agojo saved bogey by holing her downhill chip from 30 yards but Villaroman responded with a two-putt par.

Dizon credited his solid play to his swing guru and former national teammate Gerard Cantada.

"I really owe it to Gerard. He’s made the right adjustments everytime I needed to fix something with my swing," said Dizon.

With the victory, Dizon said he feels ready to take a serious crack at a return trip to the national team. And Canlubang is the right place to get going.

Two years ago, Dizon won his first major event at Canlubang which started a banner year that saw him win the scoring title of the PAL Interclub and also make it to three national teams including the memorable Asian Games stint.

Juami Rocha, the two-day leader who was tied with Southwoods teammate Que just two behind Dizon before the round, double-bogeyed two of the first two holes and soared to an 82 that sent him sliding down to a tie for 12th.

The other top finishers in the men’s event included Cookie LaO (73-289) third, Jun Bernis and Mark Vijar who tied for fourth and two-time champion Juvic Pagunsan and Marvin Dumandan tied for sixth at 293.

Heidi Chua, the newly-crowned Philippine Ladies champion, could only finish fourth in the ladies division behind third-placer Lina de Guzman.

Joe Feliciano of the sponsoring Wide Wide World Express-DHL, NGAP president Rod Feliciano and Canlubang general manager Luigi Yulo awarded the prizes to the winners.