Fil-Japanese rules RP Ladies Open

Big surprises indeed come in small packages.

Diminutive Fil-Japanese Chihiro Ikeda carded a gutsy one-over par 73 then watched two-day leader Lydia Ivana Jaya of Indonesia self-destruct with an atrocious closing of seven-over par 79 to capture the 46th Philippine Ladies’ Open amateur golf championship by three strokes at the Legends course of the Manila Southwoods in Carmona, Cavite yesterday.

Ikeda, barely five-feet tall and holder of three international titles last year, held her poise while Jaya cracked under pressure in an eventful final round duel that saw the rise of a 16-year-old who just had her first taste of national team duty in last month’s Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.

Trailing by three after 36 holes, Ikeda reduced the gap to one at the turn, seized the lead on the 12th then bounced back from a momentary lapse on the 13th to finish with a 214 aggregate and earn her biggest title yet.

Jaya, seemingly unbeatable after shooting rounds of 68 and 70 in the first two rounds, hobbled home with a 79 for 217 and solo second.

Cyna Rodriguez carded 72 to tie Fil-American Cristina Corpuz (74) for third at 219, while Beverly  Mendoza sizzled with a 69 that earned her fifth place with Lora Roberto (74) at 220..

“Masayang masaya po ako, mabuti na lang nakabawi ako,” said Ikeda, a mainstay of the ICSTI stable.

Jaya simply gave it away in the back nine, including a horrendous four-putt triple-bogey on the 17th that abruptly ended what was shaping to be a down-the-wire finish.

Ikeda herself took a triple-bogey on the 13th that turned a one-shot edge into a two-stroke deficit after losing her ball in the deep rough. She needed to hit another tee-shot when the rulesman rectified an earlier decision to allow a drop from point of entry.