Top seed Carl Corpus survived a scare from Korean Ha Tae Won, scrambling for a 1-up victory after 21 holes while No. 2 Sean Ramos rolled past Seo Dong Bin, 3&2, to advance to the quarterfinals Philippine Amateur Open Match Play Championships at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac yesterday.
Laure Duque, meanwhile, racked up another win, edging Laia Barro, 2&1, to notch her third straight point in the round-robin girls’ division while Rianne Malixi stepped up her bid by beating Kim Ga Yeon, 4&2, for two points.
Barro and Kim pooled identical 1.5 points while Bang Hee Yeon outlasted winless Kristine Fleetwood, 2&1, to post her first win in the novel format of the event among six players.
Corpus actually battled back from two holes down with seven left in regulation but toughened up and won two of the last three, including a clutch par on the 18th to extend the match.
They matched pars on their return trip to Nos. 1 and 2 but Corpus, who nipped Ramos in the playoff to bag the low medal honors after the 36-hole stroke play elims Tuesday, kept his composure and made another par on the third then watched Ha flub his own bid to snatch victory for a Last 8 clash with Kristoffer Arevalo.
The ninth-ranked Arevalo turned back No. 8 Don Petil, 3&1.
Ramos broke off a tight duel with a birdie on No. 12, went 2-up with a par on the 14th and built a three-hole cushion with another par no No. 15 then matched Seo’s par on the par-5 16th to seal a quarters face-off with No. 7 Paolo Barro, who eased out No. 10 Zachary Castro.
No. 13 Kim Tae Soo pulled off the day’s three reversals, upending fourth ranked Perry Bucay, 1-up, after 19 holes for a clash with No. 12 Paolo Wong, who edged No. 5 Masaichi Otake, 1-up.
Leandro Bagtas toppled Josh Jorge, 5&3, in the other half of the draw to set up an encounter with No. 11 Jacob Rolida, who trounced sixth ranked Dan Cruz, 4&3, to keep his title hopes in the week-long tournament organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and backed by Cignal and Metro Pacific.
The survivors brace for a grueling duel with the quarterfinals set this morning with the winners clashing for the finals berth in the afternoon where conditions are expected to get hot and tougher.
