ICTSI-The Country Club puts up strong finishing kick

FIVE TITLES in six weeks have turned it around for the belles of the ICTSI-The Country Club, making what was looking like a forgettable year into an unforgettable one.

Jayvie Agojo sparked the season-ending blast with a victory in the Santi Cup, the ladies championship of the Putra Cup, in Indonesia last September before Cyna Rodriguez (Hong Kong Ladies Amateur Open), Dottie Ardina (Cangolf Amateur and Taiwan Amateur Open) and Princess Superal (Malaysian Juniors Open) followed suit.

After a fourth-place finish in Indonesia Open that broke the run, Ardina took the Penang Amateur Open title then led a stirring sweep of the ICTSI-TCC bets – along with Superal and Sarah Ababa – of the three titles in the Singapore Juniors Championships early this month.

All told, the team racked up 23 victories, including nine by Superal and seven by Ardina, while making an impact in a series of US tournaments and in Australia, where it impressed even the country’s national team  after Ardina set a new course record 65 at the Dunes.

It was actually a season marked by a number of feats capped by Ardina’s rise to number 45 in the women’s world amateur golf rankings, where she moved four rungs after leading the team’s sweep in Singapore.

In fact, the top seven Filipino players in the list are all ICTSI-TCC members, including Superal, who rose from 120 to No. 109, Agojo now at 148 from 155, Mia Piccio from 172 to 165, Rodriguez at 248 from 256, Sarah Ababa at 401 from 440 and Lovelynn Guioguio from 487 to 474. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio