Zaragosa, Nagai seal match play title clash

CANLUBANG, Laguna—Rupert Zaragosa, using a strong start, and Gen Nagai, finishing strong, dusted off their opponents yesterday to arrange a title match for the NGAP’s Philippine National Match Play championship presented by the MVP Sports Foundation at Cangolf’s South course here.

The pint-sized Zaragosa got off to a 2-up lead after as many holes and never wavered, ousting the hard-fighting Gabriel Manotoc with a masterful 5-and-4 conquest for the first finals slot in the event also serving as part of the PLDT Group Amateur Tour and backed by Pancake House, Golf Depot and Pacsports.

Nagai, meanwhile, needed to overhaul a three-hole deficit on the front nine, finishing off JP de Claro with a flourish for a 2-and-1 win and a first crack at a national championship in his career.

While the third and fourth seeds in men’s play advanced, the top two seeds in ladies action got the boot with Mikhaela Fortuna upsetting No. 1 Daniella Uy, 1-up, and Felicia Medalla bundling out young No. 2 Bernice Ilas-Olivares, 3 and 2.

“Again, the difference in our games today was putting,” the 15-year-old Zaragosa told the Inquirer after ending the match on the downhill 14th hole. “I guess I had more luck on the greens today.”

Nagai, the reigning junior club champion at Cebu Country Club, will have the edge off the tees in today’s 18-hole final and Zaragosa will have to rely on his course familiarity to fend off the 16-year-old Japanese, who has been a resident of Cebu for the past 13 years.

“This is my first time to have a shot at a national crown,” Nagai, seated just a few feet from Zaragosa after the Final Four, said. “There won’t be pressure on me. I will just play my game and see what happens.”

Zaragosa won this tournament as a 13-year-old at Wack Wack over John Kier Abdon.