MANILA, Philippines - Del Monte bet Jelbert Gamolo and Lanz Uy pulled off stirring semifinal upsets to arrange a showdown for the boys 15-17 years crown in the Philippine Golf Foundation Junior Masters national finals at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club Aoki course.
The fifth-seeded Gamolo ousted top seed Dan Cruz, 3&1, while No. 2 Uy edged fancied Raymart Tolentino with a final hole win for a 1-up victory and a crack at the crown.
Daniella Uy, Jet Sajulga and Cebu’s Junia Gabasa – all top seeds in their respective age brackets – reached the finals in this culmination of a nationwide series reaffirming the PGF’s commitment to talent development at the grassroots level.
Uy survived the challenge of another Del Monte bet Pamela Mariano, 1-up, in the girls 15-17 years, Sajulga outplayed Russel Bautista, 6&5, and Gabasa booted out Jaminah Uttoh, 3&1.
Uy will be going for a sweep of the three major match play events this summer against Chanelle Avaricio, a 2&1 winner over Abby Arevalo, in a battle of top two seeds in the girls 15-17 years.
Sajulga tackles sixth seed Ira Alido who fashioned out a 3&1 win over Ryan Monsalve for the boys 13-14 plum while Gabasa set up an all-Cebuana duel with Angela Mangana, who nipped Martina Miñoza, 1-up.
In the other finals matches, Josh Jorge meets Carl Corpus for the boys 11-12 plum, Sean Granada duels with Marc Garreth Nolasco for the boys 9-10 and Burberry Zhang faces Samantha Dizon in the girls 9-10 section.
Also reaching the finals were Zach Castro and Andrew Chua in boys 7-8, Princess Pascua and Anya Cedo in the girls 7-8 and Miko Granada and JC Cruz in boys 6 under.