SAN Diego—Bernice Olivarez-Ilas lived up to pretournament hype when she fired a two-under-par 54 for a two-stroke lead in the girls’ 9 to 10 years even as Mia Legaspi and Carl Corpus stood just three behind the frontrunners in their respective age groups at the start of the Callaway Junior World golf championships in various venues here Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).
Olivarez-Ilas flashed a solid game at the Lomas Sta. Fe executive course with three birdies against a lone bogey to open up a two-shot lead over US bets Brinna Navarrosa and Yukino Yoshinara.
She was the only Filipino atop the leaderboard in the tournament which features 1,100 junior players from 52 countries, although Legaspi and Corpus were within striking distance in their divisions.
Legaspi, winner of the 7 to 8 division in 2006 when the country pulled off a glorious triple title feat, lined herself up for a showdown with the girls’ 13 to 14 big guns with a 1-under 71 at The Country Club Rancho Bernardo on four birdies and three bogeys to put herself in a tie for fifth.
Muni He of Canada led Legaspi’s division with a 68.
Corpus became another probable title challenger with his even par 62 giving him a share of sixth place in the boys’ 9 to 10 years play at Fountains course of the Welk Resort San Diego.
Corpus opened with a double bogey on the second hole but fought back hard to salvage his par round with birdies on the third, 11th and 18th holes against a bogey on the eight. Leading his division was Karl Vilips of Australia who fired a 59.
Harmie Constantino, Raymart Tolentino, Wei Wei Gao, Aidric Chan and Annyka Pineda-Cayabyab posted the other notable starts by the 42-strong Philippine delegation supported by ICTSI and Philippine Airlines.
Heavy fog blanketed the Torrey Pines course at mid-afternoon, preventing the girls’ 15 to 17 bets from finishing their rounds. They were asked to return for a shotgun start on Wednesday morning.