Tabuena takes silver in Asian Games

GUANGZHOU —The Philippine men’s team pooled a 224 in the final round and fell short of its bid of landing in the medal spot in the 16th Asian Games golf competition held at the Dragon Lake Golf Club. The Filipinos leaned on the even par 72 of Miguel Luis Tabuena, the 73 of Mhark Fernando and the 79 of Marcel Puyat, giving them a four-day total of 877 for solo fifth. South Korea repeated as champs with an 842 after scoring 218 on the last day. India, considered an underdog in this event, emerged as the surprise runner-up with 216-874. But the Pinoy par busters didn’t go empty-handed. Tabuena wound up securing the silver medal in the individual race. Korean Kim Meen-whee got the gold medal. Tabuena, the 16-year-old junior golfer, had to par the 18th from four feet to fend off the late charge of Chinese Taipei’s Hung Chien-yao (69-283). “I had my chances in the third round and could not capitalize. I have to learn from this enriching experience," said Tabuena, who earlier shot a pair of 68s. The Filipinas—Chihiro Ikeda, Dottie Ardina and Mia Piccio—ended at sixth (149-601) in the ladies event also ruled in runaway fashion by the Koreans (142-560). Ikeda, 18, nearly had a solid first nine where she made three birdies. But she had a bogey on the par-three sixth. Piccio had two double bogeys that pulled down the lady golfers. Host China and Chinese Taipei copped the silver and bronze with 139-571 and 144-585, respectively. They were followed by Japan (145) and Thailand (139) with 586 each. - KY, RCJ/Adrian Flores, GMANews.TV