Hernandez-Jorge cashes in on late 2-shot swing to lead

MANILA, Philippines — Jet Hernandez and Josh Jorge pounced on a two-shot swing on No. 14 to break off a tie with Jed Dy and Bianca Pagdanganan and storm ahead with a seven-under 61 at the start of the National Doubles Amateur Golf Championship at the Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club in QC yesterday.

Hernandez and Jorge took advantage of their early tee-start and birdied three of the first four holes. They rebounded from a bogey on the fifth with four straight birdies from No. 9 before capping their remarkable first-time team-up with a birdie on the par-4 14th for a 32-29 card at the short but tight par-68 military layout.

“We just clicked and came up with birdies of our own,” said Hernandez and Jorge, whose three-putt miscue turned a potential birdie to a bogey on the fifth that halted their early charge in the first flight. The duo also kind of rushed things up and blew another birdie try on the closing par-5 hole.

Dy, a former junior world champion, and Pagdanganan, a former Philippine Ladies Amateur Open titlist and bronze medalist in the recent Asian Games, matched Hernandez and Jorge’s strong frontside and back-to-back birdies from No. 10 in second-to-last group. But they bogeyed the 14th for a 63, enabling Hernandez and Jorge to snatch the lead in the season-ending tournament of the National Golf Association of the Philippines and held as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour.

Lanz Uy and Ryan Monsalve shot a 64 for third while the Kristine Torralba-Santino Laurel and Sean Ramos-Gabby Macalaguim pairs assembled 65s for joint fourth in the event sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation and backed by Cignal and Metro Pacific and Camp Aguinaldo.

Unless the top five teams sustain their superb opening round performances, a shake-up in the Group I leaderboard could ensue as play shifts to aggregate, where the scores of each player will be added for the team’s score, in today’s second round.

Meanwhile, registration for the 2019 Phl Amateur Open Golf Championship is ongoing. The country’s premier championship, set Jan. 3-6 at Riviera’s Langer course, features the men’s and ladies categories with titles in the special divisions for boys and girls also to be disputed.

Details: NGAP at telefax No. (02) 7065926 or at Riviera Golf Club, Inc. at (02) 888-9089 or 0956-8821149, email [email protected].