Hernandez, Sarines reign supreme

MANILA, Philippines — Jet Hernandez and Lisa Sarines put the finishing touches to an overpowering week for themselves, as the final round of the NGAP National Strokeplay Championship on Saturday only confirmed how good they have been before formally taking home their respective men’s and ladies’ titles.

The 21-year-old Hernandez closed out with a two-under-par 70 for a 72-hole 269 total, 19-under overall at the Pinatubo layout of Pradera Verde that completed a 22-stroke victory over fellow national pool members Chris Remata and Rolando Bregente, while Sarines submitted a 76 for a 15-shot win over Tashanah Balangauan.

“I feel like the work that I have put in the last two years – the swing change and everything else – have really come to fruition,” Hernandez, an incoming psychology senior at University of Denver, said. “I really came out today with a personal goal of going bogey-free.

“But I had some misfortune on No. 14. That’s golf and it is what it is,” added Hernandez, who opened up with a bogeyless 65 on Wednesday and then broke away the following day with 10 birdies in a second straight 65 that set the tone of the rout.

All told, Hernandez had 20 birdies and two eagles against just five bogeys in an overpowering display of scoring that establishes him as the solid choice to complete a golden double next week in the National Match Play Championship set at Luisita in Tarlac starting Tuesday.

Sarines, meanwhile, basically coasted along to the win and turned in her coldest round of the week, which was marred by a double bogey on No. 15.

Still, her win was so authoritative that no player in the lean field was able to outscore her on any round, with Balangauan and Precious Zaragosa firing matching 76s to round out the podium.

Zaragosa, the 15-year-old playing out of Canlubang, finished five strokes behind Balangauan, with Jules Gaerlan and Crista Minoza coming in another six shots back also after shooting 76s.