MANILA, Philippines - Dottie Ardina built up her confidence for next week’s SEA Games as she picked up another victory on the Future Collegians World Tour (FCWT) when she ruled the Champions Gate Challenge at the Champions Gate Golf Resort-International in Florida, USA over the weekend.
Ardina, who with ICTSI teammates Chihiro Ikeda and fellow US-based Mia Piccio will spearhead the country’s gold medal quest in the Laos Games, birdied the last two holes to fire a 70 and complete her come-from-behind victory in the 54-hole championship among girls’ 13-18 years old.
Two shots behind Japan’s Ai Miyazawa after 36 holes, the 15-year-old Ardina pounced on Miyazawa’s bogey-bogey mishap on Nos. 16 and 17 with that fiery windup to finish with a 217 aggregate.
She beat Cristina McQuiston by two as the Italian shotmaker carded a 73 and wound up with a 219. Miyazawa limped with a two-over 74 and slid to third with a 219.
Ardina opened up with a 73 on a three-bogey, two birdie stint and sputtered with a 74 in the second round after making two bogeys in the first 10 holes to drop two shots behind Miyazawa, who had 73 and 72, heading into the final round. The victory came on the heels of Ardina’s one-shot win over Vivian Chen of Taiwan in the Naples Beach Challenge at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club in Naples, Florida three weeks ago, thus scoring two early triumphs in the new season of the FCWT circuit.
It should also augur well for the Filipina shotmaker, who is raring to lead Team RP’s bid in the SEAG with Ikeda also coming into the biennial meet with a victory in the Indonesia Amateur Open recently. Ardina, who scored two wins and two runner-up finishes last season to make it to the 2008-09 FCWT All-American team, is set to arrive this week to join her teammates in the ICTSI golf squad in the final stretch of their build-up for the Laos games.