Zaragosa hangs tough, rules Sta. Lucia golf

RUPERT Zaragosa closed out with a 1-over-par 73 and held off the hard-charging pair of Jelbert Gamolo and Park Min-ung by one shot yesterday for the Sta. Lucia Amateur Open third leg championship at Orchard’s Palmer course in Cavite.

After zooming to the lead with a 70 on Thursday, Zaragosa encountered some rough moments in the final round before keeping Gamolo and his former nemesis Park at bay with a 219 aggregate.

Zaragosa had to battle back from as far as three shots back after the first nine holes with birdies on the 10th and 11th holes.

Gamolo fired a 70 and Park a 73 for 220s, but Gamolo, the Del Monte mainstay in the Philippine Airlines Interclub, clinched second place after the countback with a back-nine 33.

Bianca Pagdanganan, who saw action in the recent Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, fired a 76 and won the women’s division title by three over Korean expatriate Hwang Min-jeong, who closed out with a 74.

Pagdanganan tallied 216.

TJ Benitez won the Class A diadem after a 77 for a 36-hole 151 tally, even as Riane Casquejo fired an 82 for 162 and the Class B crown.

Nestor Sevilla ruled the Senior Division after an 80-153. Musong Castillo