Aunzo, Anya RP Amateur champs

BACOLOD – The rigors of playing four straight weeks of competitive golf, netting two victories abroad, finally took their toll on Ferdie Aunzo. But the top ICTSI bet seemed to never get tired of winning.

Aunzo outclassed JR Tanpinco with a steady game, building a four-shot cushion in the first half of their scheduled 36-hole duel before cruising to a 5 and 4 victory to capture the Philippine Amateur Golf Championship before a disappointed gallery at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club course here yesterday.

Anya Tanpinco made it back-to-back as the national ladies champion and completed another sweep for the ICTSI-backed squad, pulling off a 2-up win but not after a big scare from the 13-year-old Irina Gabasa, who showed exceptional courage and fighting spirit in dragging the 24-year-old SEA Games silver medalist all the way to the 36th hole.

Aunzo shook off Tanpinco’s early challenge by taking three of the last five holes at the back to go 4-up in their morning clash, endured the 30-minute weather delay shortly after the resumption of play before coasting to the victory, capping a great four weeks of golf that netted two victories abroad, including the Karambunai Open and the Sabah Amateur Open in Malaysia.

But this one was the sweetest for he beat the cream of the crop, fashioning out the win after five grueling days of highly competitive, exhausting golf, that included two rounds of stroke play elims which he topped before beating two rivals in each of the next three days of match play.

“Nakakapagod din (It was tiring),” said Aunzo after cutting Tanpinco down to size with his A-game that, however, started to waver in their second stint at the backside of the par-70 layout. “Medyo kumakaliwa na ang palo (My shots started to head left).”

Tanpinco, leaning on sheer guts in the absence of solid preparation in a tournament of this magnitude after arriving only last week following a 16-month study in San Diego, didn’t fare well either in the afternoon match, falling farther behind by five holes after six holes before birdying the par-4 No. 7 to get to within four again.

He never got closer from there.

“I actually had my chances to come back but I just couldn’t make the putts,” said the 26-year-old Tanpinco, who fell short of his bid of leaving the ranks as champion. 

“I am definitely out of golf,” said Tanpinco, who is looking forward to working as an assistant golf manager at The Orchard beginning this month.

Gabasa, playing out of Cebu, flashed some kind of resiliency as she battled back from four holes down to within one after parring the 35th (No. 17)) hole then watching Tanpinco crumble with a three-putt bogey.

But Anya Tanpinco kept her composure and took a 2-up victory with a routine par on the par-5 18th as Gabasa flubbed an eight-foot par putt before conceding the hole, the match and the crown to the hometown bet.

Rufino Bayron and Carmelette Villaroman capped the team’s domination by taking third place honors with the former, the DHL Open champion, beating Erwin Vinluan, 2 and 1, and the latter, a former RP Ladies Open winner, overwhelming Apple Fudolin, 5 and 3, in the event sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission, Yamaha Golf Car and Tanduay Distillers, Inc.

Meanwhile, Aunzo, Anya Tanpinco and the other top finishers of the event conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines resume their hunt for spots in the national pool as they clash for six slots in the elims beginning tomorrow at Valley Golf Club.