RUPERT Zaragosa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
FANCIED Rupert Zaragosa walked the virtual tightrope before nipping fifth-ranked Luigi Guerrero, 1-up, to advance to the championship match of the Philippine Amateur Open match play against Noel Langamin at Orchard in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
Langamin, a product of the Del Monte program in Bukidnon, had a much easier time against 16-year-old Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa, 3 and 2, for a shot at a first national title against the man considered to be the best in the land.
Diana Araneta bundled out women’s top seed Kristine Torralba with a similar 3-and-2 victory and will slug it out with South Korean Hwang Min-Jeong in today’s finals.
Hwang, who won a star-studded pro tournament on the local ICTSI ladies circuit last year, tore Jona Magcalayo apart, 6 and 5, in their half of the semifinals.
Past 15th hole
Zaragosa has never been taken past the 15th hole in this week-long event and gutted out the win over Guerrero using his deft putting touch.
In the quarterfinals in the morning, the pint-sized foreign studies sophomore at Lyceum University of the Philippines took out a feisty Marc Lu, 3 and 2.
Langamin’s tough battle came in the quarterfinals where he scored a 1-up victory over recently minted junior stroke play champion Tom Kim of South Korea.
Zaragosa, who once held both the men’s and junior amateur titles in the same year, is the odds-on favorite to prevail over Langamin in the annual tournament sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investment Corp.