Go falters in playoff as Philippines misses SEA Games golf gold
Thailand recovered in playoff as individual gold medalist Natthakritta Vongtaveelap edged Lois Kaye Go with a two-putt par, dashing the Philippines’ gold medal hopes in women’s golf team championship in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the Heron Lake Golf Course in Vhin Phuc, Vietnam Tuesday.
Go earlier trounced Eila Galitsky, 3&1, to force a playoff after Vongtaveelap foiled young Rianne Malixi, 2&1, in their side of the match play.
In a duel of the two countries’ top players, Vongtaveelap out-steadied Go, a member of the team that won the gold in the 2019 SEAG at Luisita in Tarlac, splitting the par-5, No. 9 fairway in the playoff as Go drove into the left rough.
Though the Thai dumped her second shot into the right greenside bunker, she blasted to within six feet off the cup but missed the birdie putt. Go, on the other hand, hit the fairway on her second shot but came up short on her approach then muffed her par-bid from six feet, enabling Vongtaveelap to clinch the win for Thailand and stay on course for a gold medal sweep after a dominant stint in individual competition.
Malixi, whose campaign is backed by ICTSI, held her ground against Vongtaveelap majority of their semis clash but just couldn't pull it off in the end.
The setback thus dropped the fourth-seeded Philippines to a bronze medal duel with No. 2 Singapore, which yielded a 0-2 defeat to third ranked Malaysia in the other semis clash. Read More...
