Ardina bags Junior World crown by nine

SAN DIEGO – Dottie Ardina took the sting out of her rivals with a hole-in-one that came too early, ending the Philippines’ three-year title drought in the Callaway Junior World golf championships by winning the Class E division in record-breaking fashion on Thursday (Friday in Manila).

Ardina aced the sixth just when she started to show signs of cracking up with two bogeys on the first five holes. And there was no stopping the 8-year-old daughter of a teaching pro from there. The third grader at the Child Jesus Academy in Cabuyao, Laguna rampaged to a nine-stroke victory – the biggest margin so far since the new 8-and-under division was introduced three years ago – with a closing two-over-par 56 for a 54-hole total of 175 at Presidio Hills.

When the back nine could have been just a victory walk, Ardina didn’t let up as she played it at one over spiked by a 15-foot birdie on the 14th. Ardina, whose trip here is sponsored by Philippine Airlines, is the youngest of the 15 Filipino champions in the Junior World. The last RP entry to win here was Dorothy Delasin, now a big name player in the LPGA Tour, in 1998. Dottie is also supported by sportsman Coy Quiros.

Cristina Potenciano placed joint sixth in the same division with a second straight 62 for 188. "Masayang masaya po ako. Akala ko po konti lang ang lamang ko yun pala marami pa, pinilit ko lang po na huwag magkamali sa greens," said Ardina. Ardina and her flightmates didn’t even know that she aced the sixth. When she got on the green of the slightly elevated hole, Dottie pulled out her putter and looked for her ball. She and her flightmate later found it inside the hole. "Kinabahan po ako akala ko nawala na. Buti na lang hole-in-one pala," she said. Giovana Mayman of the US placed second (60-184) behind Ardina. Sally Kim of Guam (64-185) and Airi Sugimoto of Japan (63-185) shared third place.

Merwin Mediana, president of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines, said Ardina’s victory is a big boost to their development program." "We’ve tried our best to convince our kids to train hard for big events like the Junior World. Dottie and her father really worked hard the whole year and they got rewarded with a title," he said.

The country’s bets in the 15-17 years division suffered the same fate as the rest of the 24-player contingent, failing to make it to the final round play on Friday. Jayvie Agojo and Matet Salivio got eliminated after their rounds of 82 and 86, respectively. Keena Ugarte improved to a 75 but was way off the cutoff mark at 249. Mario Lamela had an 80-236, Bayani Garcia 85-258 and Raymond Espiritu 88-260.