CAVINTI, Laguna. — Pauline del Rosario lived through a backside scare from Kim Seoyun, closing out with a two-putt par for a 71 then watched the Korean miss a birdie by a roll to pull off a one-stroke victory in the ICTSI Caliraya Springs Championship here Thursday.
Kim charged back from four strokes down in the last six holes with three birdies in a four-hole stretch from No. 13 then came threateningly close after Del Rosario put to naught a birdie on the 16th with a bogey on the next, making it a one-shot lead heading to the par-4 18th of the Caliraya Springs Golf Club.
After both reached the green in regulation, the Korean putted first from 20 feet out, the ball rolling into the cup before swerving to the right at the finish for a 68, enabling Del Rosario to pound the victory after muffing her own birdie bid from closer.
Del Rosario pocketed the top P115,000 prize on an eight-under 208 total while on a three-week break from the Epson Tour, with the victory serving as a big confidence booster as she builds up for the Copper Rock Championship in Utah next week.
“I think what I would take away from this week is my short game since Caliraya Springs is not really a long course, so my approach shots and putting were very much used,” said Del Rosario, who is due for a big finish in the LPGA Tour’s farm league.
“What I noticed about my game is that I made a lot of shots below 100 yards, so I would focus on practicing those yardages just to fine-tune it a little bit more,” added the ICTSI-backed 2017 Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner, who missed the Anvaya Ladies International ruled by fellow Epson Tour campaigner Bianca Pagdanganan last February.
“It’s so nice to see familiar faces and back in local competition. There’s a lot of talents here and I’m glad to be a part of it,” said Del Rosario, who also topped the LPGT Riviera leg in 2020 before embarking on the US tour.
Ahead by four on 69-68 rounds, Del Rosario was cruising along with a two-birdie, two-bogey card after nine holes then birdied Nos. 12 and 16 to hold off the 19-year-old Kim’s late charge that featured birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 16.
