Singapore: The Philippines, Thailand and hosts Singapore all had cause for celebration as the curtain came down on the 61st edition of the Southeast Asian Amateur Team Championships.
In the Putra Cup, the quartet of Carl Jano Corpus, Enrique Dimayuga, Shinichi Suzuki and Jet Hernandez ended a more than decade-long victory drought for the Philippines.
In the Lion City Cup (Boys' Under-16), the Singapore trio of Brayden Lee, Troy Storm and Aaron Wee dethroned Thailand as champions.
However, there was consolation for the Thais with their Santi Cup and Kartini Cup teams declared winners based on their gross scores from three rounds after more than three hours of play was lost due to inclement weather at Seletar Country Club.
Dimayuga was the strongman of the Philippines’ team in the Putra Cup, an event they last won in 2013.
Winner of last week’s Singapore Open Amateur Championship, Dimayuga put his country in an enviable position atop the leaderboard as he raced to eight-under through 13 holes in the final round.
After parring the next two holes, the 22-year-old was forced off the course because of thunder and lightning threats. When he returned, the Filipino bogeyed his closing three holes.
But it was also still enough for him to be crowned the individual champion over Singapore’s Ryan Ang based on countback. In the team standings, the Philippines posted a gross total of 17-under 847 – 10 strokes clear of runners-up Vietnam.
Dimayuga said: “I would have loved to have won by playing better golf in the finishing holes. But the lengthy play suspension really took the momentum out of me as I was on a roll before the sirens blew.
“But overall, I’m really happy I managed to win the Putra Cup for the Philippines together with my team. It has been a long time since we last won it and this victory is really special,”
In the Lion City Cup, Lee signed off with a final round 77 to finish fourth in the individual standings. But it was his opening 68 along with Storm’s 69 in the first round that played a crucial role in the nation’s overall score of seven-over 583 as they assured Singapore of a podium finish on home soil.
“We did very well to win the Lion City Cup. There were bad rounds during the week but we worked together as a team to cover for each other,” said 16-year-old Lee.
Storm added: " I'm really proud of ourselves. There were difficult rounds but we persevered and didn't give up."
Wee said: "It has been a pretty good week for us despite some of the bad rounds we had. But we managed to overcome it and bring home the trophy."
