Defending champion Po loses in match play semis

Fifth-ranked Aniceto Mandanas pounced on top seed Aidric Chan’s erratic game and fashioned out a huge 7and 5 victory while No. 2 Carl Corpus dethroned last year’s champion Peter Tyler Po on the 19th hole to seal a showdown for the Philippine Amateur Open Match Play crown at the Orchard’s Players course in Dasmariñas, Cavite yesterday.

Mandanas banked on his solid driving and superb iron game to oust the low medalist with the 18-year-old shotmaker, who primed up for his duel with Chan by thrashing No. 4 Josh Jorge 5 and 4, in the morning quarterfinals, upbeat of his chances for a breakthrough victory in the country’s premier championship sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation.

“I got lucky beating him (Chan). My driving and iron game worked well,” said Mandanas, an incoming freshman at University of Oakland as a golf scholar who placed second in the recent WExpress RVF Cup. “Tomorrow (today), I’ll just play my usual game, no pressure but I should be careful at the back, especially on No. 10-12 where the fairways are tight.”

While Mandanas coasted to victory, Corpus needed to toughen up and an extra hole to subdue Po with the incoming fourth year Ateneo student also expressing confidence in the grueling finals spread over 36 holes against the very player who trounced his cousin (Chan).

It was a sorry setback for Chan, who topped the 36-hole stroke play elims and looked headed to a cruise to the finals with a pair of 5 and 4 romps in the knockout phase before subduing Luigi Guerrero, 2-up, in the quarters.

“I was a bit unlucky, couldn’t get a good lie and couldn’t sink my putts,” rued Chan.

Top seed Harmie Constantino and No. 2 Mikha Fortuna, meanwhile, forged an interesting faceoff for the women’s crown with the former, the 36-hole ruler, dominating young Laurea Duque, 4&3, in the quarters and then edging Laia Barro, 2&1, in the semis. /