Ababa, Ikeda fall in WWGA golf

MANILA, Philippines - Sarah Ababa failed to sustain her big win in the Last 16 and dropped a 3&2 loss to Yugene Lee of Georgia in the quarterfinal round of the Women’s Western Golf Association’s (WWGA) 83rd National Junior Championship at Hope Valley Country Club in Durham, North Carolina Thursday.

Ababa, 15, earlier shocked Kirk, winner of the North Carolina 4A High School West Regional Championship, 3&2, in the morning match but the ICTSI-backed bet lost her touch and poise in the afternoon duel with Lee, who won both the 2007 and 2009 Georgia State 3A High School Championship.

Top seed Chihiro Ikeda also kissed her title bid goodbye when she bowed to unfancied Vivian Tsui of Canada, 3&2, in the Last 16.

Tsui, a 2009 AJGA preseason champion, played one of her best rounds of the year to defeat the top Filipino bet, who dumped Samantha O’Donnell, 7&6 in the elims.