PH Golfer Bianca Pagdanganan reacts after making a hole and bagging the Gold medal for the Wome’s golf competition during the Seagames at the Luisita Golf club in Tarlac on friday.
INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Bianca Pagdanganan finished off her foe only like she could, and Team Philippines looked to the angelic-looking Lois Kaye Go to become the heroin.
And she delivered.
Steady in the stretch, Go salvaged an all-square match with Ashley Lau on Saturday to key the Filipinos’ sweep of women’s golf with the team gold medal after a 1.5-.5 victory over Malaysia even as the men’s team won the bronze via a playoff in what turned out as a productive stint for Team Philippines at tree-lined Luisita Golf Club in Tarlac.
Pagdanganan, who won the individual gold by three shots over Kan Bunnabodee of Thailand on Friday, came from two holes down early to pull out a 3&2 win over Malaysian No. 1 Natasha Oon, before Go came up with some remarkable clutch plays coming home to keep Lau at bay and duplicate a similar finish in 2013 in Myanmar when the multititled Princess Superal led the squad.
“We won as a team. Everyone contributed,” Pagdanganan, who will play in the LPGA full time next year, said as she paid tribute to a strong backup crew that also included rookie Abby Arevalo, the team’s surprise package in the final day of medal play.
“It’s a very special win, especially with this group,” Go said.
“It’s another great day for the Philippines,” Bones Floro, the architect of this team and the one that surprised the field in the Asian Games in Jakarta last year also with a women’s sweep, said. “Golf has taken a giant leap the past year and a half. Our players have truly matured.”
The men’s team of Luis Castro, Aidric Chan, Carl Corpus and Sean Ramos snatched the bronze medal by nipping Indonesia in a playoff on Castro’s victory over Jonathan Wijono on the second sudden-death hole.
It was the country’s first medal in men’s play since Mhark Fernando, Jhonnel Ababa, Tonlits Asistio and Jude Eustaquio bagged the bronze in the 2009 Games in Vientiane, Laos. INQ