Go romps to 11-stroke Phl Am Open triumph

MANILA, Philippines - LJ Go nailed his biggest victory to date despite fumbling with a four-over par 76 as Jerome Ng fared even worse with an 80, enabling the Cebuano bet to cruise to a whopping 11-stroke romp in the MVPSF Philippine Amateur Open Golf Championship at Wack Wack East Course yesterday.

Go, who built a seven-shot cushion heading to the final 18 holes, all but wrapped it up at the front as Ng fell farther behind on poor putting, finishing with a 38-38 marred by bogeys in the last four holes for a 72-hole total of 291.

That was 11 shots ahead of first day leader Jobim Carlos, who rallied with an even par 72 then nipped Ng in the countback to snatch runner-up honors after the duo wound up with 302s.

The 18-year-old Go thus secured the biggest win of his young amateur career after helping Cebu Country Club to back-to-back title wins in the PAL Interclub while re-claiming the crown for the Philippines after the Singaporeans and a Korean ruled the last three staging of the annual event presented by MVP Sports Foundation and sanctioned by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

“I’m happy that I finally won,” said Go, who is set to fly back to Cebu today before going to the US to resume his studies at Seton Hall, where he is a golf scholar.

With the title already in the bag, Go birdied Nos. 13 and 14 inside eight feet but sputtered in the last four holes, missing to post a record margin of victory in the event backed by Pancake House, Golf Depot and Pacsports as part of the PLDT Group Amateur Tour.

Go and Ng slugged it out shot for shot in the first five holes but the Singaporean ran into bogey mishaps in seven of his last 13 holes, allowing Carlos, eight shots behind Ng at the start of the final round, to tie for second.

“I was hoping to win this year,” said Carlos, also a golf scholar at University of San Francisco who finished second two years ago behind Gregory Foo of Singapore at Canlubang and Wang Jeung Hun of Korea at Riviera three years ago.

“It was a tough day for me,” said Ng.

“We were like matching our shots in the first few holes until he started to miss and I felt bad for him,” said Go referring to Ng’s foldup.

Japan’s Gen Nagai and Justin Quiban had 73 and 74 to finish fourth and fifth places with a 304 and 305, respectively, while Singapore’s Johnson Poh and Marc Ong ended up with a pair of 306s and the troika of John Kier Abdon, Gabriel Atienza and Singapore’s Abdul Hadi finished with 308s.