Alethea Gaccion drew strength from her 18-hole stroke play win as she held off Velinda Castil’s strong showing in two skills sets in the drive, chip and putt challenge to clinch the overall girls’ 15-18 championship in the ICTSI JPGT VisMin Classic at the Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club in Cagayan de Oro over the weekend.
Zeus Sara, who placed third in 18-hole play Friday, took the boys’ 15-18 overall trophy with 17 points, foiling Simon Wahing and stroke play topnotcher Ken Zonio, who finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the two-day tournament that drew 123 players from the 9-to-18 age group classes and 15 kids in the 8-and-under category.
Other division winners were Clement Ordeneza of Del Monte and Isabella Tabanas of Pueblo (13-14), Pueblo’s Ralph Batican and Johanna Uyking of Apo Golf (11-12), and Jared Saban of Brittanika and Cebu’s Zuri Bagaloyos (9-10).
Gaccion and Castil actually finished tied for first with combined 19 points after the 18-hole and DCP (drive, chip and putt) competitions. But the former took the overall championship with the higher 18-hole points to lead 23 others to the national finals of the pioneering Junior PGT Series organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
The top three placers in four age divisions will thus join the top Luzon JPGT finishers in the national finals set next month at The Country Club.
Abby Abarcas placed third overall in the girls’ 15-18 with 16 points she earned from two formats.
Gaccion, from Pueblo de Oro, scored 51 Molave points to edge Del Monte’s Castil by two points to top the 18-hole tournament last Friday with Abarcas, also from Del Monte, ending up third with 45 points.
But Castil shone in the skills challenge, topping the putting side ahead of Princess Babia and Gaccion, while placing second in chipping ruled by Abarcas with Gaccion winding up third.
Abarcas also topped the driving test over Therese Miñoza and Gaccion, respectively.
Sara, from Palos Verdes who placed third behind Zonio and Cliff Nuneza in 18-hole play, topped the driving skills and barely yielded the putting honors to Iggy Fabiala but failed to land in the Top 3 in chipping.
Meanwhile, Ordeneza, who snatched the 18-hole trophy against Armand Copok and David Teves, emerged No. 1 in putting, finished second twice – to Brennon Sy in chipping and to Copok in driving for 20 overall points, besting Copok and Teves, who wound up with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Tabanas, who also reigned in the 18-hole tournament, finished third in all three skills tests for a top-scoring combined 19 points. She nipped Zero Plete, who pooled 18 points while Lois Lane Go placed third with 14 points.
Ralph Batican finished with 20 overall points to beat Blademher Estolaga and Manu Tiongko, who matched 15-point outputs in the two-format event. Estolaga took runner-up honors after the tiebreak.
Uyking produced 20 points to dominate Brittany Tamayo, who had 17 points, while Kimberly Barroquillo placed third with 16 points.
Saban also scored 20 points to foil Franco Qiu and Mico Woo, who made 17 and 16 points, respectively, while Bagaloyos and Rafella Batican battled to another down-to-the-wire duel after the former edged the latter in the playoff in 18-hole play.
Bagaloyos and Batican matched 19-point combined 18-hole and DCP outputs but the former took the top spot on account of her playoff win.
Ellana Dumalaog came in third with 15 points.
Sharing the spotlight are Soleil Molde and Jaime Barnes, who both dominated the 18-hole and DCP skills formats in girls’ and boys’ categories, respectively, of the year-long circuit put up by ICTSI to boost junior golf and discover talents, including in the countryside.