Hot start has North scampering to three-point lead

Zoji Edoc: Ace —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Defending champion Team North broke out of the proverbial gates as hard as it could on Tuesday by winning the first three matches and going on to take a 7-1/2-4-1/2 lead after the Fourball format that got the ICTSI Elite Junior PGT Championship going at Pueblo de Oro in Cagayan de Oro.

Zoji Edoc highlighted the hot start by draining an ace from 80 yards with a 54-degree wedge on the 13th, as his team-up with Kenzo Tan rallied from a hole down to take a 3&2 win over South’s Stephen Clementer and Darren Ong in the boys’ 7-10.

That victory was sandwiched by Zach Guico and Kingston Ching carving out a 5&4 win over Ethan Lago and Lucas Revilleza in the first boys’ 7-10, before Chan Ahn and Vito Sarines made it three straight with a 6&4 thumping of the Ken Guillermo-Mico Woo tandem.

“The [lopsided result] was really unexpected,” said North coach Joey Anciano. “When we saw South’s lineup, I wasn’t expecting anything. I just told the kids to play, trust their teammates, and they did.”

A three-point lead is big, especially this one that came on the road for the North as the Southerners couldn’t take advantage of their familiarity with the rolling layout and will play catch-up for the second straight year as the Foursomes format will be used on Wednesday.

“[That’s] really big for an away team. We traveled to an unfamiliar territory, so we were just aiming for at least a tie today, which would have been good,” Anciano added. “We’re very fortunate.”

Last year, the North zoomed out to an 8-4 lead and were never really threatened the rest of the week at The Country Club in Laguna.

The first South win came courtesy of 14-year-old wonder Ralph Batican and Jared Saban, who pulled out a 4&2 victory over Javie Bautista and Jacob Casuga in the other boys’ 11-14 match.

The victory of Shin Suzuki and Santi Asuncion in one of the boys’ premier 15-18 matches over Alexis Nailga and Clement Ordeneza, 4&2, put an exclamation point on the Day 1 rout.

One South win that was worth mentioning was the 2&1 win of Princess Zaragosa and Tashanah Balangauan over National Strokeplay champion Lisa Sarines and Rafa Anciano in the girls’ 15-18. INQ