Cebu’s ‘LK’ Go on 3rd spot, keeps Nat’l Stroke Play Championship’s repeat bid alive

Cebu’s LK Go competes at the National Stroke Play Championship. | File photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu’s lady golfers are keeping their hopes up as they placed third and fourth in the penultimate day of the National Stroke Play Championship held at the Riviera Golf and Country Club in Silang, Cavite, Thursday, January 9, 2020.

Defending champion Lois Kaye “LK” Go, a member of the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) gold medal winning team, maintained a third place finish with another 77 on the third day of the competition for a current total of 227.

Read more: Cebu’s LK Go off to hot start

Junia Gabasa, on the other hand, kept her bid alive by improving from seventh place to fourth after recovering from an 80 on the second day to 74 today for a 228. 

The 12-year-old Rianne Malixi held on to the lead she snapped from Go on the second day with another superb round. She finished with a 71 following back-to-back birdies for a 214. 

She is three strokes ahead of Go’s SEAG teammate, Abby Arevalo, who also maintained a second place finish going into the final round. Arevalo carded 72 for a 217.

In the premiere men’s open division, the Cebuanos were not so fortunate with Weiwei Gao dropping from third to seventh place after stumbling with a 79 for a 227.

Misfortunes continue to hound defending champion Gen Nagai, a Japanese but is Cebu-based. He improved with a 75 but it wasn’t enough to offset his two 77s. He settled for a 229.

Korea’s Gwon Min Wook continued to dominate with a 216 after carding a 75.

This tournament is organized by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and serves as the kickoff leg of this year’s PLDT Group National Amateur Tour./dbs