Singaporean National player Gregory Foo played solid golf over four days to capture the PHILIPPINE AMATEUR OPEN Golf Championship by two shots over Jobim Carlos at the latter's home course, Canlubang Golf and Country Club in Laguna.
With sometimes heavy rains turning the par-72 course soft, Foo went birdie-less and lost his 6-stroke advantage on the last day, before settling down with a seven-over-par 79 and a four-day tally of 287.
Carlos, who fought Foo shot-by-shot in the first two rounds, lost out with 75's on day 3 and 4 to finish second. Clyde Mondilla settled for third with a stroke behind at 291, after finishing with a 76.
Keanu mounted a good come-back on the last two days with a 73 and 74, but his 2nd day 80 with a double-par on #4 and out-of-bounds on #1, cost him a top-5 finish. His final standing was 14th (75, 80, 73, 74 - 302).
Among the "Alabang Boys", Justin Quiban achieved an excellent result by placing T6 with a 70, 75, 77, 74 or a total of 296. Looks like this teenager is also becoming of age.
Mondilla, a former champion who, like Carlos, started the day six shots off the lead, pulled level with the eventual champion after Foo, who registered earlier rounds of 70-69-69, double-bogeyed the par-3 11th.
But the Del Monte player, who three-putted the 11th, fell out of the lead with a bogey on the 12th before taking a damaging 7 on the par-4 13th hole, where he needed three shots to get out of a fairway bunker.
Foo admitted to having difficulty getting to settle down after the rains delayed the start by an hour. Carlos and Mondilla pounced on the chance, only to lose steam in the end.
Carlos, the 19-year-old ICTSI scholar in the United States, birdied the par-5 17th to outscore ICTSI-Canlubang teammate Mondilla for second.
On the women’s side, Lovelyn Guioguio closed out with a 71 and rallied from two strokes down to win of the tournament presented by Globe Telecom, Pancake House and Airphil Express.
Guioguio totalled 219 for 54 holes, winning over Andie Unson by six strokes, who fired a 72.
Both Foo and Guioguio won round-trip tickets to Singapore and Blackberry phones from Globe.
Foo, who won the Singaporean Junior Championship last year on his last year of eligibility, said he is proud to win the national title of his mother’s country. The 18-year-old added, he will have less time for golf next month, when he starts serving his mandatory 22-month service with the Singaporean Armed Forces.
Keanu now continues concentrating on his schooling, while also preparing for the DHL Philippine National Amateur Championship in March.
