Padilla just too much for Suzuki

A week after turning back more celebrated rivals, Tristan Padilla on Wednesday nailed down a second straight boys’ 15-18 title in the Junior PGT, but this came in a more authoritative manner that left no doubt the first one wasn’t a fluke.

Closing out with a two-under-par 70, the 17-year-old playing out of Manila Southwoods in Carmona tallied a 54-hole 212 for a staggering 16-shot victory in the ICTSI Splendido Hills Championship over Philippine team mainstay Shinichi Suzuki.

Padilla, though, wants to keep getting better.

“There’s still a lot of room for improvement, and I’ll keep working on that,” said Padilla, a De La Salle-Zobel student who crashed the John Hay party in Baguio last week, where Suzuki and US school recruit Charles Serdenia were supposed to dominate.

“These back-to-back wins show that I can compete at a high level. I’ve been focusing on making the most of every opportunity, and that’s really helped me these past two weeks.”

Lisa Sarines also waltzed her way to a convincing win with a final round 69, good for an 18-shot win over twin sister Mona that avenged a stinging lopsided defeat last week at John Hay in Baguio.

It was the second victory in the circuit this year for Lisa, but despite that, she has thrown caution to the girls’ 15-18 division that she’s far from being satisfied.

“This isn’t the best I can be yet. I’m always working to get better every day, every round,” said Lisa Sarines. “This win means a lot because it boosts my confidence.”