CEBU , Philippines – Siblings Weiyu and Wei Fang Gao put themselves in qualifying position after leading their respective divisions in the first round of the Visayas leg of the Philippine Golf Foundation Junior Masters Series at the Cebu Country Club course here.
Weiyu fired a 76 to surge ahead by seven strokes over Russel Bautista in boys Class C while his younger sister Wei Fang (88) took a commanding lead over Jordan Quano in girls Class D of the 36-hole qualifier that will select Visayan bets to the national match play finals.
Their elder brother, Wei wei, was also very much in contention in boys Class B as he was just a stroke behind the frontrunning Peter Tyler Po after shooting a 77.
Fifty-five of Cebu’s top junior golfers are vying for two slots each in four different age brackets for boys and girls for the grand finals slated May 21-24 at the Alabang Country Club.
Harvey Sytiongsa paced boys Class A with a 79, Ericka Lim led girls Class A with a 76, Lois Kaye Go was six shots up in girls Class B with a 76, Junia Gabasa was the leader in girls Class C with her 80 and Kevin Tae Wan Park started five up on Franco Rivera in boys Class D.
In the PGF Developmental Tour, Raymond Edward Tampus (46) was three up on Ren Moromosa.
The leaders:
Class A Boys-Harvey Sytiongsa 79, Sir Cross Abarintos 82, Airon Sorino 87; Girls- Ericka Lim 76, Gabrielle Marie Crystal 82, Alyeska Yunam 86
Class B Boys-Peter Tyler Po 76, Wei wei Gao 77, Dillon Joseph Tsekiri 85; Girls-Lois Kaye Go 76, Keilla Wilson Choi 82, Mika Mari Lua 102
Class C Boys-Weiyu Gao 76, Russel Bautista 83, Jed Daniel Yap 85;
Class C Girls-Junia Gabasa 80, Angela Pearl Magana 86
Class D Boys-Kevin Tae Wan Park 78, Franco Rivera 83, Mark James Cannen 93; Girls-Wei Fang Gao 88, Jordan Quano 120, Piage Aguirre 126
Class E – Raymond Edward Tampus, 46, Ren Moromasa 49, Renzo Ricardo King 57
Qualifiers here will join last week’s survivors from the Northern Luzon stop at Camp John Hay in Baguio and the two other legs set at Splendido Taal in Batangas and Del Monte in Bukidnon.
The series is held by the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines in cooperation with the PGF..