TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS made the most of its WGAP Circuit hosting, coming away with two victories and a one third-place finish to pull away again in the overall race after six legs at the Midlands and Lucky Nine courses in Tagaytay recently.
But the Highlanders went through some anxious moments before nipping a hard-fighting Forest Hills side and snaring the Class A via countback after both teams finished with identical 140 points.
Tagaytay’s Class C squad, however, stamped its class and pooled a 150 to post an eight-point romp over Villamor before settling for third in Class B won by Sta. Elena over Camp Aguinaldo.
The huge seven-point output hiked Tagaytay’s total to 26 points, now five points clear off Villamor (21) and six ahead of Forest Hills (20) with Sta. Elena and Alabang toting 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Heading to the sixth stop, Tagaytay held on to a one-point lead over joint second-running Villamor and Forest Hills but cashed in on the proverbial home-court edge to build another big cushion heading to the last two legs of the annual eight-stage circuit organized and conducted by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines.
Sharing the spotlight were individual winners Abigail Lapid of Orchard (40 points-Class A), Wack Wack’s Isable de Jesus (42 points-Class B) and Villamor’s Angela Castro (47 points-Class C).
Canlubang will host the penultimate leg on Sept. 11 at the North course before the circuit winds up at Sta. Elena on Oct. 9.
Nini Eustaquio fired 36 Stableford points while Sophia Blanco and Rebecca Albert shot 35 points each and Hee Kyung “Grace” Jung added 34 points for Tagaytay’s 140 total in Class A.
Forest Hills’ matched that output behind Jonah Ilagan and So Young “Maria” Lee’s identical 36 points and Grace Atienza and Jane Magada’s similar 34 points, only to lose in the countback. Villamor bucked a depleted roster and placed third with a 135, also edging Sta. Elena in the countback, while Eagle Ridge ended up fifth with a 130 followed by Orchard (129), Canlubang (122), Alabang (120) and Camp Aguinaldo (97).
Sta. Elena drew 44 points from Gina de Guzman, a 38 from Amelia Ward, a 36 from Marilen Bantug and a 31 from Misako Ogihara as it assembled a 149 to beat Aguinaldo (139) by 10 in Class B. Tagaytay also put in a 139 but lost in the countback to settle for third followed by Forest Hills (137), Villamor (128), Eagle Ridge (124), Alabang (120) and Orchard (119).
Jessalyn Tan, meanwhile, shot 39 points while Jennifer Romualdez, Connie Mamaril and Veronica Wuson backed her up with identical 37 points as Tagaytay scored a 150 to claim the Class C crown, eight points ahead of Villamor, which made a 142 and nipped Camp Aguinaldo and Wack Wack in the countback for runner-up honors.
Canlubang placed fifth with a 141 followed by Forest Hills (135), Alabang (133) and Sta. Elena (129).