By Adrian Flores

CARMONA, Cavite—Her teammates call her the “Silent Assassin.” She just smiles a lot and hardly speaks loud. But what she did to her fellow competitors Friday was something short of mercy killing through consistent shotmaking at the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club.

A shot back at the start of the finale, Manalo carded a closing one-over-par 73 as she steamrolled the international field to win her first major tournament—the 47th ICTSI-Philippine Ladies’ Amateur Open Championship organized by Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines.

Manalo, who placed 13th last year held also at Manila Southwoods’s Legends course, completed the 54-hole tournament with a three-day aggregate of 218. She scored on five birdies, mostly from inside six feet, except on no. 9 where she holed a long 16-footer.

Dottie Ardina (76) of International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Lee Shine of Korea (76) ended at joint second with 221 each. Second-round leader, local bet Lee Jeong-hwa (78), succumbed to pressure and was a further shot back with 222, for a share of third with Sinhyo Choi (72) of Eagle Ridge.

Dethroned champion Chihiro Ikeda had a two-over-par 74 for a 229 total. She was totally out-of-sync for the week, but she’s still happy because her teammate Manalo succeeded her in the podium.

Manalo stressed that putting accounts for a large portion of her victory run. Her birdie-binge began on the second hole as she canned an easy two-and-a-half-feet birdie putt. The next one came on no. 6 from about four feet then ended the initial half with another on no. 9.

Her steady play continued on to the 11th where she gunned down a four-foot birdie putt. She was at four-under at this point. And when she reached the tee mound of no. 12, she knew that a stable-par finish would do the job.