KRISTOFFER Arevalo used a solid start to break away from Perry Bucay and went on to fire a 69 and beat Rho Hyun Ho by two while Mafy Singson pounced on Lois Kaye Go’s backside meltdown to rally from two down and post a one-stroke triumph in the National Stroke Play Championship at Manila Southwoods’ Legends course over the weekend.
Tied with Bucay after 54 holes, Arevalo shook off his rival’s challenge with back-to-back opening birdies then shot three more birdies against two bogeys for nines of 33-36 and 286. Ho moved from joint third and settled for runner-up honors in the men’s side with a 70 and 288.
Bucay failed to match Arevalo’s fiery start with pars and fell farther back with a double-bogey on No. 3 for a frontside 40. He matched par at the back but his closing 76 dropped him to joint fifth at 293 with Gabriel Manotoc and Ivan Monsalve, who shot 70 and 71, respectively, and Shinichi Suzuki, who started the final round just a stroke behind the joint leaders but faltered with 38-37 for 75.
Korean Kim Tae Soo carded a 73 and finished third at 291 while Jet Hernandez, who topped the recent SEA Games qualifying at Luisita, failed to sustain a third round 69 with a 74, ending up fourth at 292.
Two strokes behind Go in a tie with Laurea Duque with 18 holes left, Singson cashed in on her familiarity with the bunker-laden layout that she calls home, sinking two birdies against a bogey at the front then bouncing back from a bogey-bogey start at the back with an eagle on the par-5 14th.
The ICTSI-backed member of the SEAG-bound ladies’ squad actually wavered at the finish, making two bogeys against a birdie in the last four holes to settle for a 72 and a 295. But Go, who will join Singson and top amateur Rianne Malixi in the biennial SEA Games in Hanoi next month, also faltered with back-to-back closing bogeys and wound up with a 75 for a 296.
