Alethea Gaccion banked on her 18-hole stroke play win to secure the overall girls’ 15-18 championship in the ICTSI JPGT VisMin Classic at the Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club in Cagayan de Oro over the weekend.
In taking overall top plus, Gaccion bested Velinda Castil despite the latter’s strong showing in two skills sets in the drive, chip and putt challenge.
Zeus Sara, who placed third in 18-hole play Friday, took the boys’ 15-18 overall trophy with 17 points, foiling Simon Wahing and stroke play topnotcher Ken Zonio.
Wahing and Zonio finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the two-day tournament that drew 123 players from the 9-to-18 age group classes and 15 kids in the 8-and-under category.
Other division winners were Clement Ordeneza of Del Monte and Isabella Tabanas of Pueblo (13-14), Pueblo’s Ralph Batican and Johanna Uyking of Apo Golf (11-12), and Jared Saban of Brittanika and Cebu’s Zuri Bagaloyos (9-10).
Gaccion and Castil actually finished tied for first with combined 19 points after the 18-hole and DCP (drive, chip and putt) competitions.
But the former took the overall championship with the higher 18-hole points to lead 23 others to the national finals of the pioneering Junior PGT Series organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.
