Alido weathers Zaragosa challenge
Mark Caguioa took a dig at Calvin Abueva's comments following Barangay Ginebra San Miguel quarterfinal victory over Alaska in the PBA Philippine Cup, saying that Ginebra indeed got plenty of help from the Man Above.
It would be recalled that Abueva made a subtle shot at the manner of which Ginebra won the quarterfinal series over his twice-to-beat Aces, saying: “Alam naman natin na malakas yung kalaban, malakas pati sa taas.”
Reading between the lines, Abueva appeared to have ripped at the officiating, which perhaps prompted Caguioa to fire back at the controversial Alaska forward.
“Talagang malakas kami sa taas,” Caguioa tweeted late Wednesday. “Dahil dto sa Barangay namin malakas kaming mag Dasal #NSD”
There seems to be no move in giving Abueva at least a fine as suggested by those within the league, since he never made a direct criticism of any personalities, unlike, for example, NLEX coach Yeng Guiao, who has a long record of criticizing what he thought was bad officiating.
Ginebra beat Alaska, wiping the Aces’ twice-to- beat advantage advance to the best-of-seven semis against the Star Hotshots.
The crowd-favorite squad forced a rubber match last Sunday, rallying from a 17-point deficit to prevail, 85-81, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
In the do-or-die match, Ginebra took control of the second half with a cast led by LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson and unsung heroes Aljon Mariano and Kevin Ferrer in the 108-97 victory.
It was the fourth time in franchise history that Ginebra overcame a twice-to-beat disadvantage in a quarterfinals, while dealing Alaska another heartbreaking defeat in the playoffs.
Ira Alido lost his lead, but got it back with a fierce fight back on the back nine as he weathered the challenge of former national champion Rupert Zaragosa in the third round of the W Express RVF Cup Amateur Golf Championship at Canlubang Golf Club’s North course.
Alido, a 16-year-old high school student of La Salle-Dasmariñas, shot a three-under-par 69 for his third straight sub-par round and took a twostroke lead over Zaragosa, who shot the day’s best, a four-under-par 68.
In women’s play, Korean Hwang Min-jeong fired a 70 and posted a fourshot lead as overnight leader Harmie Constantino faded with a 76 and dropped to second.
Zaragosa, in poor form in recent months, appeared headed to overcoming Alido with strong front nine that saw him shoot four birdies to erase a three-shot deficit. He then took a twoshot lead with another birdie on the par 3 11th, a hole which Alido bogeyed.
But Alido the three-day leader recovered with a birdie on No. 12 then bucked the wind with a solid 7-iron second shot from 170 yards that bounced once onto the green and into the cup of the par-4 13th for an eagle. He was again three strokes ahead.
Alido, hwoever, surrendered a stroke when he bogeyed the 18th.
Alido posted a three=day total of 210 while Zaragosa was 212.
Korean Kim Joo Hyung and Cebu’s Weiwei Gao joined the championship group with 214 and 216 after a 68 and 71, respectively.
Yuto Katsuragawa sustained his fightback from an opening 77 with a second straight 70 but the ace Japanese shotmaker remained seven shots behind at 217 in a tie with Jolo Magcalayo, who hobbled with a 73 while Carl Corpus lay a shot farther back at 218 with a 73 in the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and held in honor of the late golf patron and former NGAP president Rod Feliciano.