Cyna Rodriguez played just well enough to fire a one-under par 71 as she safely made it to the match play event of the 2007 US Girls Junior Golf Championship at the Tacoma Golf and Country in Lakewood, Washington Tuesday.

Rodriguez, who could only match par 72 in the first day of the 36-hole stroke play elims, birdied two of her first six holes but stumbled with back-to-back bogeys from No. 7 to make the turn at even par.

She went two under against with birdies Nos. 11 and 16 but dropped a shot on the par-3 17 to settle for that 71. Still, it was good enough to give her a spot in the 64-player match play phase as she finished in joint 17th with a one-under 143.

The 15-year-old Rodriguez drew Alison Lee of California in the first round of match play, which features low medallist Kimberly Kim of Hawaii, who slowed down with a 72 after a sizzling 62 for a 134.

Korean Ha Na Jang took the No.2 spot with a 136 after a 67 while Mina Harigae, also of California, shot a 69 to finish third with a 137.

But while Rodriguez advanced, ICTSI teammates Dottie Ardina and Chihiro Ikeda fell by the wayside with second straight 76s, barely missing the cutoff score at 151.

Ardina and Ikeda actually appeared headed for a big comeback with birdies in their opening holes. But Ardina, winner of four titles abroad this year, made five bogeys in a 10-hole stretch while Ikeda, who ruled the Jakarta Junior tilt last month, also dropped
five strokes in a span of 13 holes to limp with identical 76s and 152s.

Meanwhile, national champion Jay Bayron gets the rare chance to play against the world’s finest amateurs when he competes in the 49th Annual Porter Cup set to fire off Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) in Buffalo, New York.

Bayron, 28, is the lone Filipino invitee to the event, which gathers the top 100 amateurs in the world. At No. 70 in the world amateur ranking, Bayron, winner of this year’s Saujana Amateur champion, will be ranged against the likes of defending champion Han Seung-su of UNLV, current No. 1 Kyle Stanley of Clemson University, the first team NCAA All-Americans members Billy Horschel of Florida and Coastal Carolina’s Dustin Johnson, members of the Australian national team and the other top players from Canada, New Zealand, Korea, Thailand, France, Brazil and Chile.

RIVIERA ended the five-match winning streak of Forest Hills in a home game, 3.5-1.5, to send the race for the two automatic semifinal berths wide open in the Federation Golf League matches in various venues recently.

The pairs of Chay Moreno-Brixton Aw and Joe LaO-Pepot Inigo provided Riviera with two early wins in the aggregate and high-low matches before Eric Gozo-Danny Pizarro secured the win by taking scramble point.

Bobby Celestino-Alfonso Quitangan also halved the greensomes point to complete the Riviera win that avenged Silang-based golfers their 2-3 loss when they played at Forest.

The two now share the top spot in Group III at 12 points on similar 5-1 win-loss records, five big points ahead of Eastridge which scored a 5-0 sweep of Mimosa in the tourney sponsored by Gargol, Immuvit/Pascual Laboratories, ABW and Spa 6750.

Valley made the week’s biggest move after a 5-0 rout of winless defending champion Manila Southwoods and a 3-2 conquest of Malarayat to join a three-way tie for second in Group I.

Ryan Lam-Boni Sumbilla, Boy Blue Ocampo-Art Fontanilla, Carlo Carpio-Ray Puyat, Adrian Mauricio-Zaldy Villa and Joey Quimson-Kevin Lachica pulled off the wins for Valley, which trails Highlands by just a point.

The Division II battle likewise remained very tight after host Camp John Hay battled Royal Northwoods to a 2.5-2.5 draw and Orchard continued its comeback after a 4-1 trampling of Canlubang.

Northwoods leads at 11 points followed closely by Sherwood Hills at 9, Canlubang and John Hay at 8, Wack Wack at 7 and Orchard at 5 going into this week’s matches.

Eastridge, meanwhile, kept its flickering hopes of advancing alive with a rousing sweep of Mimosa behind the efforts of Koji Yasuma-Rading Decipeda, Henry Lacuna-Alex Ignacio, Jung Su Park-Jasper Kawachi, King Sumulong-Kim Bun Sik and Roberto Eusebio-Kim Ryung Il.

FEDERATION LEAGUE
Standings (Win-Loss-Draw-Game Points)
Group I: Highlands 4-2-0-9, Valley 3-2-1-8, Malarayat 3-3-0-8 Alabang 3-1-1-8, , Southwoods 0-5-0
Group II: Northwoods 3-2-2-11, Sherwood Hills 4-3-0-9, Canlubang 3-4-0-8, John Hay 3-3-1-8, Wack Wack 3-3-1-7, Orchard 2-5-0-5
Group III: Forest Hills 5-1-0-12, Riviera 5-1-0-12 , Eastridge 2-2-1-7, Sta. Elena 1-4-0-3, Mimosa 0-5-1-1