Pinays settle for 30th place as Sweden beats USA for crown in World Amateur Golf Team Championship
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines fought its way back to Le Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretéche, carding a 150 and finishing 30th in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Team Championship that Sweden won via tiebreak over the United States in France on Saturday (Sunday, Manila time).
Mikha Fortuna matched her 71 card on the par-72 layout where they combined for a decent 144 to start on joint 11th Wednesday but Lois Kaye Go jumped with a 79 after a 73 and the Philippines finished with a 598 total which included rounds of 153 and 151 on the tougher par-71 Le Golf National course.
Mafy Singson, who entered the scoring at LGN in the middle rounds, bogeyed the first five holes on the back and failed to make the count with an 82.
But Fortuna proved to be a big revelation for Team Phl, which placed 10th the last time it played in the biennial event in Japan in 2014 on a team built around Pauline del Rosario, Princess Superal and Clare Amelia Legaspi. The Univ. of Oklahoma mainstay, a last-minute replacement for Rianne Malixi, had maintained her consistent play all four days, opening with a gutsy 71 and then leading the team at Le Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretéche despite a 75 .
Singson took charge in his second sting in Saint-Norm with a 74 but Fortuna still counted in the three-to-play, two-to-count event despite a 77.
She had high hopes for the final round after a backside start with two birdies and a bogey and went two under with another birdie on No. 5. But she failed to get a stroke on the par-5 seventh and then missed saving a par on next for a 36-35.
Go, on the other hand, fumbled with four bogeys for a solitary birdie early on and failed to recover at the front, limping with four more bogeys for a 40 and a 79.
Meanwhile, the Swede snubbed the USA’s back-to-back title bids with a closing 139 at Saint-Norm as it tied the reigning champion, who scored 140, at 559.
But the Swedes won the Espirito Santo Trophy for the third time on a tiebreak, winning it after comparing non-counting scores – a 73 from Lousie Rydqvist to Rachel Kuehn’s 74.
Sweden, which also won in 2004 in Puerto Rico and 2008 in Australia, thus took the gold medal with the USA settling for silver and Germany and Japan sharing the bronze with identical 560s.
Although there was no official recognition in individual play, Sweden’s Meja Ortengren (70), Germany’s Helen Briem (72) and American world No. 1 Rose Zhang (69) shared top honors with 279s.
Fortuna finished tied for 42nd with a 294 while Singson finished tied for 106th with a 311 and Go finished tied for 113th in a field of 164 with a 313.
Meanwhile, men’s action explodes Wednesday for the Eisenhower Trophy with Aidric Chan, Carl Corpus and Jet Hernandez to better the Philippines’ 47th-place finish in Japan eight years ago.