Surprising finish for NMI jr. golfers

Surprising was the first word that came out from coach Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho when asked to describe how did CNMI junior golfers Edward Lee and Sebastian Camacho fare in a recent tournament in the Philippines.

Lee and Sebastian Camacho saw action in last week’s 21st Philippine Airlines Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines Junior Interclub Championship held at the Pradera Verde Golf & Country Club in Lubao, Pampanga province in the Philippines.

The 14-year-old Lee finished tied for first place in the 13-14 division, before losing the title to Philippine-based Korean and last year’s runner-up Tae Soo Kim in the fifth playoff hole. Sebastian Camacho placed in the Top 10 in the same age group.

“They performed better than what we expected. They only had one day of practice to get familiar with the course and yet they still came out and played well, given that most of the competitors have been familiar with the course,” Joe told Saipan Tribune.

The three-day tournament used the Molave or the Stableford scoring system that followed a stroke-play format with the player to earn the most number of points in each hole winning the contest.

Junior golfer Camacho said the experience of playing in his first off-island tournament would help him become a better player.

“The tournament is at another level that’s why you need to be at your best. I did better than in the last [Northern Marianas College Foundation] golf tournament,” added the Grace Christian Academy freshman, who started playing golf in November last year and is being coached by the veteran golfer Camacho.

Sebastian Camacho was at 14th place overall in the second day of the PAL Junior Interclub before barging into the Top 10 at the end of the tournament.

Lee, a two-time winner of the BMW Junior Open in Guam and represented the CNMI in the IMG Junior World Championships in California two years ago, said they were up against a lot of good players in the PAL Junior Interclub.

“It was a nice experience for both of us. Especially for me since this is another learning tool that I can use to fine-tune my game. Every athlete aims to get better next time. And, this is another learning experience for me,” said the Dandan Middle School student.

Meanwhile, Jo thanked Tony Camacho of the Department of Public Works and Sebastian’s father, for joining them in their trip to the Philippines.