Go girl! Filipina teen makes history after winning US junior golf championship

 

Princess Mary Superal became the first player born in the Philippines to win a United States Golf Association championship when she turned back a late rally from Mexico's Marijosse Navarro to bag the US Girls' Junior Championship on Saturday at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Arizona.

 

"I feel very, very proud," Superal told usga.org. She follows the footsteps of Filipino-American Dorothy Delasin, who won the event in 1996 while playing as a US national.

 

The 17-year-old Filipina led for most of the match before Navarro edged her by one stroke coming into the par-5 36th hole. Superal calmly nailed a birdie to force an extra hole.

 

Superal got a big break after Navarro's tee shot found water, and the Filipina finished the job by making par to win the championship.

 

"I was very shocked.  We played this morning, and then she always make it on and make a birdie, so I was very shocked when her ball went in the hazard," said Superal of Navarro's big misstep.

 

A stalwart of the ICTSI golf program, Superal is coming off a victory in the 2014 Jakarta Junior World last month. — JST, GMA News