Dumandan captures California Am crown

Marvin Dumandan blew a two-shot lead as he lost his touch in the early going but fought back with a sizzling 32 at the back to fire a 71, nip fancied Freddy Wolfe by one stroke and bag the North Orange County Amateur golf crown at the Black Gold Golf Club in Yorba Linda, California Sunday.

An eagle-blast on the par-5 No. 13 spiked Dumandan’s fiery windup, including a closing birdie that foiled Wolfe’s bid for a playoff as the RP team mainstay completed his wire-to-wire triumph in the 36-hole tournament, part of the amateurgolf.com tour, California’s premier amateur golf circuit, with a 140.

"Wolfe played really steady golf but Marvin just refused to give up," said Chris Guerrero, coach of the four-man RP squad training under the ICTSI golf program.

The 6-foot-6 Wolfe, incoming junior at UC Berkeley and considered as the school’s top player who boasts of a 325 yardage off the mound, strung up two 35s for a 70 and a 141.

Michael Bibat churned out the day’s best score of four-under par 68 to tie compatriot Gene Bondoc, carding a 71, for third place with 143s.

Jay Bayron, who struggled with a 78 in the first round, also rallied with a 71 but missed making it to the top 10 with a 149 for 11th place.

Dumandan’s win, one in the growing list of victories abroad posted by the members of the ICTSI team, is expected to bolster his confidence as he leads a crack eight-man RP team to next week’s Singapore Amateur Golf Championship.

In one stretch, however, the 26-year-old Dumandan appeared to have lost the battle after a bogey-marred frontside that netted him a 39, staring instead at a two-shot deficit after starting the day two-up on the power-hitting Wolfe.

But Dumandan never got discouraged, birdying No. 12 and blasting into the hole on No. 13 after dumping his second shot into the greenside bunker for an eagle as he wrested a two-shot lead. He gunned down another birdie on No. 15 but yielded the stroke back on the next before Wolfe moved within one again with a birdie on the 17th.

Both players hit their drive down the middle of the 18th fairway with the American out-hitting Dumandan by some 25 yards. But the Filipino shotmaker, ignoring an OB on the left and a big lateral hazard, stuck a solid 4-iron shot 15 feet off the cup then two-putted for birdie, putting to naught Wolfe’s equally impressive 6-iron shot for another two-putt birdie.