Ikeda tops Jakarta jungolf, powers RP to team crown

Chihiro Ikeda battled back from two shots down to card a five-over par 77 and nip Indon ace Agnes Sudjasmin by one stroke for the Class A crown in the Jakarta Junior World Golf Championship at the Damai Indah Golf Club in Jakarta, Indonesia Friday.

Ikeda, a 16-year-old from Davao, pounced on Sudjasmin’s disastrous four-putt mishap on No. 10 to seize control then came through with  tap-in birdies on Nos. 13 and 15 to negate her closing double-bogey for that 77-231. 

That was one stroke better than Sudjasmin, who posted a two-shot lead after 36 holes with a 79 and 73, but limped home with an 80 for a 232, five shots up on third placer Wei Ju Lao of China, who had a 237 after a 79.

Ikeda, one of the members of the ICTSI golf squad, also teamed up with Louise Manalo to steer the Philippines to a five-shot victory over the Indon pair of Sudjasmin and Ika Woro Palupi in the team championship. The RP bets finished with a 463.

Ikeda’s  win  capped the Philippines’  title conquests abroad the last three weeks as Dottie Ardina copped the Malaysian Ladies Open title and Jay Bayron pocketed the Saujana Amateur crown.

The other Filipino bets who saw action in the Jakarta tilt were Class A boys Rocco Sumabat (323), Anthony Saban (324), Brent Sumampong (332), JR Quiachon (345); Class B first runner-up Marcel Puyat, (294), third runner up Wolen Superal (296); Class C second runner-up Bino dela Paz (228); Class C girls third runner-up Sarah Jane Ababa (257).