A cut above everyone else the whole week, Cyna Rodriguez fired a level-par 72 yesterday and won the ICTSI Philippine Ladies’ Golf Tour’s fourth leg running away from Mia Piccio at Wack Wack’s West course in Mandaluyong.
With earlier rounds of 70 and 69, Rodriguez finished with a 5-under 211 for a six-shot win over Piccio, who scrambled to a 74 and wound up three ahead of amateur hotshot Princess Superal.
In finishing the 54-hole event as the only player under par, Rodriguez equalled the record that Dottie Ardina set in this pilot tour by going 2-for-2 in her first events as professional.
Rodriguez, whose eight-shot win over Jayvie Agojo at Eagle Ridge in Cavite last month came in the same wire-to-wire style, won another P100,000 out of the P500,000 kitty.
Chihiro Ikeda, who was tipped to crowd Rodriguez before the start, returned a 71 like Superal to finish fourth, with Jayvie Agojo firing a 74 for 225.
“It feels good to win again,” Rodriguez said. “I had a shaky start and I was a bit nervous because I know Mia can come back. But I settled down after I birdied the sixth (hole).”
Piccio, who easily hurdled the first phase of the LPGA Qualifying in the United States together with Ardina recently, teed off just four strokes back but struggled to a 40 going out.
And that was all that Rodriguez needed to play in cruise control the rest of the way after hitting the turn with a 37.
“I’m satisfied with (finishing second) in my first tournament as a pro,” Piccio, a native of Bacolod, said. Musong R. Castillo