Talion, Tambalque primed for JPGT finals

LEVONNE Talion and Patrick Tambalque hope to ride the momentum of their respective flourishing elims campaign and push forward in pursuit of the coveted championship in the national finals of the ICTSI Junior PGT (JPGT) Series set on Tuesday, October 3, at The Country Club in Laguna.

Levonne Talion CONTRIBUTED PHOTO 

The duo emerged on top of the 13-14 age group category after the grueling five-round elims phase of the pioneering, course-hopping series that features the drive, chip and putt (DCP) challenge, and 18-hole tournaments aimed at enhancing the youngsters’ talent and skills, and at the same time, developing their confidence.

The top five players in each age division in both the boys’ and girls’ classes, including 9-10, 11-12 and 15-18, advanced to the national finals based on their top three best scores. The finals will be played under the 18-hole tournament using the Molave scoring system, according to the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

Talion, 13, topped two 18-hole competitions and finished second in the third while posting a couple of third-place efforts in DCP to lead the finalists in the series with 29 points.

Rafa Anciano, who ruled the DCP tilt in Round 2 and finished second in three 18-hole tournaments wound up second with 28 points, while Maria Monserrat Lapuz pooled 27 points for third, and Chloe Rada and Chloe Lim matched 24-point outputs to secure the last two berths in the national finals.

“It was an exciting event for me because we get to play in those challenging courses with the DCP events making it more interesting,” said Talion. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be No. 1 (after the elims) because aside from being the youngest, most of my opponents have more experience playing. It was truly unexpected.”

But she does expect to figure in the national finals of the event at one of the country’s longest and toughest championship courses, which has hosted a number of Philippine Open and Asian Tour events and home to the Philippine Golf Tour’s flagship tournament, The Country Club Invitational.

Tambalque, on the other hand, hopes to flaunt his power the way he did in closing out his elims campaign in explosive fashion. He swept the last two 18-hole tournaments at Splendido Taal and Pradera Verde for a 30-point output.