North sets out to apply pressure in CDO early

CAGAYAN DE ORO–Team North will use a tested approach when it opens defense of its ICTSI Elite Junior PGT title starting on Tuesday at Pueblo de Oro: Apply the pressure from the get-go until host South cracks.

“Our main focus is teamwork and keeping the pressure on,” coach Joey Anciano said after his Northerners continued sampling the rolling lay-out that the South players know so well. “In both formats, we want our players to play smart, stay patient, and trust their partners.

“The goal is to play clean golf and let them make the mistakes.”

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Shinichi Suzuki, the newly crowned National Match Play champion, and recent ladies’ Strokeplay national titlist Lisa Sarines banner the centerpiece boys and girls’ squads of Team North, which ruled this event with authority at The Country Club in Laguna last year.

“It’s going to be a very even tie,” Suzuki had told the Inquirer in a recent interview as he tries to put another big achievement under his belt before graduating from the junior ranks at the end of the year. “I think the rosters are pretty balanced.”

Slight edge

Sarines, the 14-year-old who won the Strokeplay Championship at Pradera Verde by 15 strokes, said that home-course edge will play a role.

“They have the advantage there, since some of us will play the course for the first time (in last week’s practice round),” Sarines said in a separate interview. “But other than that, we’re up to the task.”

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Precious Zaragosa, who finished second to Sarines in the Strokeplay and second to Grace Quintanilla in match, and Ralph Batican will be the spearheads of the South squad.

Batican knows the Pueblo de Oro layout like the back of his hand, behind from nearby Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon where he is being honed by the legendary Frankie Miñoza.

“The great thing about this team is that every single player is strong, so no matter how we order our pairs, we’re confident we can win points from the very first match to the last,” Anciano said. INQ