Mia bids to qualify for LPGA tour

Fresh from a four-year stint with the University of Florida senior varsity golf team, Mia Piccio is back in town with dreams of qualifying to join the LPGA tour in November or December.

Piccio, 21, flew in from the US yesterday morning with parents Ernesto and Gina. She’s taking a break from sports in the next few days to take a trip to Palawan with friends before heading back home to Bacolod City. She earned a psychology degree at Florida but at the moment, her sights are set on only turning pro.

“That’s her dream,” said her father Ernesto. “She had a great career at Florida and that will give her confidence in qualifying for the LPGA tour. Mia led Florida to three straight NCAA Championship appearances. As a Florida alumna, she gets to use the greens of the Mark Bostick course in the northwest corner of the campus in Gainesville. Mia’s coach Kevin Collins is with the IMG Academy in Bradenton, also in Florida which is a three-hour drive away from Gainesville so she’s won’t be too far from the training center.”

As a Philippine national golfer, Piccio was on the team that struck gold at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vientiane in 2009. Her teammates were Dottie Ardina and Ichiro Ikeda. She also played on the squad that finished sixth at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou three years ago. In the Asiad individual table, Piccio wound up 18th with a 72-hole score of 309. She was on the Philippine team that placed eighth at the World Amateur Championships in Buenos Aires in 2010.

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Piccio’s older brother Juan Carlo, now 31, competed in the 1,500-meter freestyle and the 400-meter individual medley events at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Carlo captured two silvers and two bronzes in three SEA Games in 1999, 2001 and 2003. The collection should include a gold medal in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay with Miguel Molina, Miguel Mendoza and Mark Kalaw at the 2003 SEA Games in Vietnam. The team was initially disqualified for a technical infraction but the championship was restored after the Philippine protest was upheld. However, to this day, Piccio has not received his gold medal despite repeated reminders from his father to the officials of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association.

“It’s been 10 years since the protest was upheld but still, no gold medal for Carlo or his teammates,” said the exasperated father. “Mia got her SEA Games gold medal in 2009 but not Carlo. He has his two silvers and two bronzes but his most memorable achievement was winning the gold with the Philippine team. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the gold medal to remember it by.”

Carlo finished with a business degree at the University of Cincinnati, where he swam for the senior varsity, in 2007. He took up nursing at a Los Angeles community college and after completing his studies last February, is now employed in a large downtown government-owned hospital.

With Carlo retired from competitive sports, the Piccio family is now rooting for Mia to make her mark in the LPGA tour. Based on her performance at Florida, her future as a pro appears to be extremely bright. She ended her varsity career on a high note in the final round of the NCAA Championships last month, carding three straight birdies and a par on the final four holes for a three-over 75. Piccio combined for a 10-over 298 in four rounds, her second lowest in her NCAA Championship career with the previous low coming two years ago at 294.

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The Florida varsity took 17th place in the final NCAA standings with a total score of 53-over 1,203. Southern California bagged the title with a 19-under 1,133 total. Piccio was the top Florida finisher in the individual category.

As a senior, Piccio made it to the Central All-Region team for the first time in her Florida career. She had previously gained All-SEC Second Team honors. “Mia was a driving force in sending Florida to its third straight NCAA Championship appearance and 24th in school history,” said the University of Florida website Gatorzone. “At the 2013 NCAA Central Regional, she carded two rounds of 69 as part of a two-under 214 tournament score to finish in seventh place and help the Gators finish in fourth overall, sending them to Athens, Georgia, for the final tournament of the year. Mia finished the year with the third best stroke average on the team, 73.9, good for seventh lowest in a season in Gator history. The Filipina also notched her first collegiate individual victory this season as she claimed the title of the Lady Bulldog Individual Champion with a one-round 69, her lowest of the season and tied for the lowest round of her career. With her victory, Mia became the third different Gator golfer to win at least one tournament this year. In 12 competitions this season, she had four top 10 and five top 25 finishes, good for tops on the team.”

Piccio’s showing at the Central Regional drew praise from Florida coach Emily Bastel. “I’m happy for Mia,” said Bastel. “She had one bad nine-hole stretch but besides that, played great golf all weekend. It’s a real positive for this team to have our senior step up at crunch time.”

In her last round, Piccio birdied on the second, third, fifth and eighth holes but suffered a bogey on the ninth. She stormed back to birdie the 10th and 13th but wrote down another bogey on the 17th to finish at 69. The effort brought her to seventh place in her second under-par tournament this season.