Chanelle Avaricio sustained her stirring fightback in regulation, foiling Princess Superal with a par on their return trip to the closing par-5 hole to snare the ICTSI Hallow Ridge Ladies Challenge crown in sudden death on Friday in San Pedro, Laguna.
Avaricio earlier overcame a two-stroke deficit with one hole left, birdying the 18th for a 71 and a crucial two-shot swing that forced a playoff at 216 as Superal blew an overnight three-stroke lead and crumbled with a bogey at the finish for a 74.
Back on the 18th, Avaricio reached the green in regulation and two-putted for par while Superal missed it and chipped to nine feet past the hole. She muffed the putt and Avaricio snatched the victory worth P97,500.
“It all boiled down to execution (of shots) and the putts were also important,” said Avaricio, whose playoff win came after she routed the Superal-less field by seven for her breakthrough victory on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour at Riviera’s Couples course last November.
“I know the course well but it’s challenging every time I play here,” said the former Alabama State U mainstay. “I played steady but I didn’t really hit my shots well and missed a lot of greens. But my short game helped me a lot.”
The Hallow Ridge Filipinas Golf Inc. also awarded Avaricio one-year playing rights as an honorary privilege.
“It’s special winning on my home course,” she added.
Superal had also looked poised to mark her return to top podium finish with a wire-to-wire win this week but her last hole mishap in regulation led to another sorry setback following her loss to amateur sensation Rianne Malixi, who also pounced on a crucial two-shot swing on No. 17 of Luisita to steal the win two weeks ago.
Unlike Avaricio, she struggled with her short game, missing a number of chances to settle for another runner-up finish worth P63,750.
Avaricio chopped just one stroke off Superal’s three-shot lead with a 37 start under heavy rains but pulled to within one on a birdie-bogey swing on No. 10.
But the 2019 Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner, who topped the Sherwood and Eagle Ridge legs last July before skipping the Tour’s third restart last November to campaign abroad, racked up three straight birdies from No. 11 to restore a three-stroke lead.
But a bogey on the 14th enabled Avaricio to stay close despite a run of five pars.
Needing two shots with one hole left to force a playoff, Avaricio made the most of her chances then got a break when Superal wavered and ended up with a bogey on the layout’s last long hole which the latter birdied in the second round.
Avaricio kept pressing her bid despite Superal’s birdie-blitz, draining her own birdie on No. 12 in a title chase reduced to a two-player affair after top amateur Lois Kaye Go hobbled after closing to within three on a birdie on No. 3, which Superal bogeyed.
Go bogeyed the ninth but stayed in the race with a frontside 36. Another bogey on the 10th, however, led to a string of mishaps as she dropped strokes on Nos. 12 and 13 and holed out with a 7 on the par-4 14th.
She yielded another stroke on the next and limped with a 78 to tumble to fifth at 225.
Reigning Order of Merit winner Harmie Constantino and Chihiro Ikeda carded identical 74s and shared third place at 223 worth P51,750 each.
Go took the low amateur honors plus gift prizes in the second leg of this year’s LPGT organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc and put up by ICTSI.
Daniella Uy, winner at Riviera-Langer last year, holed out with a birdie-less 77 and wound up sixth at 231 while Kristine Fleetwood also fumbled with a 77 and tied for seventh at 233 with fellow amateur Arnie Taguines and pro Pamela Mariano, who matched 78s.
Sarah Ababa, a former LPGT leg winner, also skied to a 78 for 10th at 234 while Korean Jane Jeong, who got into the mix with an opening 74 but fell behind with a second round 78, skied to an 83 and ended up 11th at 235.
