Cebuano Lloyd Jefferson Go made his very last tournament as an amateur one to be remembered as he dominated Joaquin Velez from start to finish and come away with a one-sided 10&9 victory to capture the men’s title in the third MVPSF Visayas Regional Match Play Championship at the Cebu Country Club yesterday.
The top seeded Go splashed the writing on the wall early, zooming ahead 6-up after the first 18 holes in the morning duel before taking four more holes at resumption in the afternoon to cut short their scheduled 36-hole finale to a mere 27 holes.
Go, who just recently won the Philippine Golf Tour Q-School but decided to prolong his pro debut a little longer after the Asian Games in September, had needed an extra hole to beat Carl Corpus in the semis but proved too crafty for Velez in the championship.
Afterwards, a jubilant Go narrated how he went about the finals in order to emerge victorious and come away with yet another title.
“I went out there and played my game. I was able to execute my game plan, that’s probably why I played well today,” the Seton Hall University standout said.
“I hit a lot of fairways today so I can set myself up for a good angle towards the green. I was able to do that repeatedly. My iron game was good and gave myself lots of opportunities for birdie,” Go continued.
He added that he would be heading over to the United States to train for a couple of months, and perhaps play some more tournaments there.
On the distaff side, 16-year-old Angela Mangana rallied to edge Junia Gabasa in a thrilling finish to capture the women’s crown, 2&1.
Mangana, who finished at No. 2 in the 36-hole stroke play elims, battled back from 2-down in the morning play then broke out from an all-square match after 27 holes by winning three of the next five.
Gabasa pulled to within two with a par on the par-5 16th which Mangana, from Mactan Island Golf Club, bogeyed. But the duo traded bogeys on the next, enabling Mangana to clinch the victory.
Next up is the Philippine Amateur Open Match Play Championship on April 23-27 at the Orchard Golf and Country Club in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
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