Cebu’s LK Go off to hot start

Cebu’s LK Go prepares for a shot at the National Stroke Play Championship in Cavite. | contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Buoyed by her gold medal performance in last year’s 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Cebuana golfer Lois Kaye “LK” Go ruled the first round of the ongoing National Stroke Play Championship at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.

Go relied on an excellent putting to put up a strong start and finishing with a three-under 68 to take the first day lead in the tournament organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

She relegated Samantha Martirez behind her by five shots as well as LPGA Tour-bound and SEAG gold medalist Bianca Pagdanganan, her teammate in the SEA Games, and last year’s world No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand.

“I feel good, I’m happy with the way I played today. I’m glad that I was able to put in a good round,” said Go in a phone interview with CDN Digital, adding that the recent SEA Games experience gave her more confidence in this tournament.

The tournament will continue for three more days and Go plans to stay on focus to stay on top.

“I will not get ahead of myself because it is a tough course so I cannot afford to lose focus. I just have to keep moving forward,” said Go.

Go ruled by birding holes nos. 6 and 7 that netted her a 33-35 round that also featured three other birdies against two bogeys at the back.

Another Cebuana golfer, Junia Gabasa, ended the first day at fifth place after carding 74.

Fellow Cebu-based golfer and defending champion Gen Nagai, however, was not so fortunate as he got caught up with the strong wind midday and had to settle for current third place with a 73 in men’s play.

Nagai got hampered by a three-bogey which he was not able to recover from. /bmjo