CANLUBANG, Laguna , Philippines – Top Filipino seed Rupert Zaragosa, Kristopher Arevalo and Andres Saldana scored walk-over wins over separate foes yesterday even as Gabriel Manotoc posted the first upset in the NGAP’s Philippine Match Play championship presented by the MVP Sports Foundation at Cangolf’s South course here.
Saldana, the lefty from Alabang, advanced to the quarterfinals without breaking a sweat like the two other fancied Junior World veterans as top-ranked Park Min-ung of Korea failed to answer their tee time because of the flu.
Zaragosa, seeded third, and Arevalo, meanwhile, arranged a Final Eight tiff after Park Min-cheol, the 14th seed, and Norman dela Peña begged off from playing because of injuries.
Arevalo is the reigning world 15-16 champion, but he is expected to have his hands full against the pint-sized Zaragosa, who knows the tree-lined layout like the back of his hands.
Meanwhile, the ladies side of the event making up a leg of the PLDT Amateur Tour and backed by Pancake House, Golf Depot and Pacsports, starts tomorrow with No. 1 Daniella Uy battling Sophia Chabon and No. 2 Mikhaela Fortuna taking on Seo Yon-kwun of Korea.
The tournament takes a break today in observance of the end of the Ramadan.
Fourth-ranked Gen Nagai, the Cebu Country Club standout in the PAL Interclub, nipped Basti Lorenzo, 2-up, with No. 2 Jun Tea-yang scoring a similar 2-up victory over Marco Olives.
Yang takes on the 16-year-old Manotoc tomorrow after Manotoc, the 10th seed, turned the tables on another Korean expat, Kim Soong-wung, 3 and 2.