Steady Jayvie ties Taiwanese at helm

Multi-titled Jayvie Agojo survived a strong start by Ya-Ni Tseng of Chinese-Taipei to forge a share of the lead in the girls side with a one-under-par 71 yesterday even as Japanese teener Keisuke Sato stepped ahead of his rivals in the boys class after the first round of the inaugural Asia-Pacific Junior Masters golf championships.

The 16-year-old Agojo, still shooting for her first major win in Asia despite her huge collection of international titles, played steady over the Legends course of the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club made five birdies and could have been all alone at the top if not for a last-hole bogey.

Tseng had a wild round where she gunned down eight birdies but nullified by a triple-bogey on the second hole and a sorry bogey-double bogey finish.™

Agojo, winner of the Optimist and Temecula titles in the US last summer, and Tseng pulled away early from their rivals as the next player in the standings–Porani Chutichai of Thailand–was three behind following a 74.

Sato, meanwhile, opened up with a solid 68 and instantly became the player to watch among the 54 entries in the 12-nation tourney that features the best players 17 years and below in Asia and the Pacific.

Sato moved up by two shots over Hua-Yeng Tseng of Taiwan and Ekalux Waisayakul of Thailand with the fancied Anujit Hiranratanakorn not too far behind after a 74.

Laurence Negrido of the Philippines trailed by seven with his 75.

The other local entries struggled as Jasper Braga had 79, Miko Alejandro 80 and Justin Limjap 87 in the boys side and Maritess Salivio 78 and Gerileen Handog a 79 in the girls category of the tourney supported by Manila Southwoods, Department of Tourism and New World Renaissance as the official hotel.