Ardina first Tour champ

DOTTIE Ardina is indeed ripe for the pro ranks.

Ardina blitzed the back nine and shot a final-round seven-under-par 65 to complete a come-from-behind win in the ICTSI Philippine Ladies Tour’s first leg at the windswept The Country Club in Laguna.

She knocked down five birdies coming in, including what proved to be the title-clinching 20-footer on the par-3 17th, to complete a bogey-free round and nip hard-finishing amateur Princess Superal by a shot with a 207 tally. Ardina picked up the winner’s purse of P100,000.

“It was sort of a perfect finish—solid driving and steady putting,” said Ardina. “But I still needed to come up with that long birdie putt on the 17th to keep my lead as Princess also played a superb game.”

Superal also gunned down seven birdies but signed for a bogey on the ninth as she checked in second with a 66. She failed to forge a playoff after missing an eight-foot putt for birdie on the 18th.

Two other amateurs, both members of the ICTSI stable, occupied the next two spots in the final standings, with two-day leader Cyna Rodriguez shooting a 70 for a 211 total and third spot. Miya Legaspi fired a 73 and was alone in fourth at 215.

Jayvie Agojo, who fired a 70 for a level 216 for fifth, took home the second-place cheque, with Lovelyn Guioguio pocketing the third prize after finishing in a sixth-place tie with amateurs Pauline del Rosario and Sam Bruce.

Guioguio fired a 74 and was caught at 221 by Del Rosario, who fired a 70, and Bruce, who returned a 71.

“I saw the line of my putt on the 18th and just wanted my ball to go through that line. But I didn’t read the break right,” said Superal, now the spearhead of the ICTSI team with Ardina’s debut in the pro ranks.

Ardina actually trailed Superal and Rodriguez by one at the turn. But after birdying the 10th like Superal, Ardina shot three successive birds from the 12th to pull ahead.

The clincher came on the 17th, a dangerous par-3 guarded by a huge lagoon where Ardina landed her tee shot to within 20 feet.

Superal actually drained a 25-footer for birdie on the same hole and would have gone into the 18th tee tied for the lead had Ardina not made her gutsy birdie try on the same hole. Musong R. Castillo