Rho’s Strong Final Round Sinks Competition

At the time, Angela Rho thought her parents were being cruel for taking her out of the swimming pool. But now, and especially after a day like Friday, Rho can only thank her parents--Angela and Ben--for showing her the way to a bright future.

Rho, who will be a senior at Sonora High this fall, shot a five-under-par 69 Friday on the Torrey Pines North Golf Course to win the girls’ 15-17 division of the Junior World Championships.

She finished with a four-day total of 285, which breaks the tournament record of 288, set by Lisa Kiggens of Bakersfield in 1990. Rho’s total was a shot better than that of Virada Nirapathpongporn of Bangkok, Thailand, who shot 71 Friday.

Rho’s victory was her third this summer. She also won the Nabisco Mission Hills and the Justin Leonard team tournament in Dallas with partner Kim Rowton of San Antonio.

“This is way on top of everything,” said Rho, 16. “When you say, ‘Junior World,’ everyone knows what you’re talking about. This is just fantastic.”

Rho’s record score was even more remarkable considering she played the sloppy and sometimes treacherous North Course, on which a new irrigation system is being installed.

“Everyone is in the same position,” Rho said. “I don’t think golf was meant to be played on perfectly manicured courses anyway. It’s kind of fun like this.”

It was especially fun from the ninth to the 14th hole, where Rho went eagle, par, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie. On No. 9, a 470-yard par five, Rho missed a double eagle by inches as her three-wood shot scooted over the hole and stopped six feet away.

As Rho sizzled, Nirapathpongporn struggled. By the 16th hole, Rho was 13 under and Nirapathpongporn was 10 under. But Rho made her first crucial mistake of the round on No. 17, a 159-yard par three over water. She drilled her seven-iron over the green and onto the fringe, some 100 feet from the hole. Meanwhile, Nirapathpongporn stuck her tee shot within six feet.

Rho’s chip flew 15 feet past the hole. She two-putted for bogey and her pursuer made birdie to close the lead to a stroke.

Rho and Nirapathpongporn hit the fairway on No. 18, a par-5, 460-yard hole. After Nirapathpongporn hit her three-wood a few feet short of the bunker, Rho could have played it safe and laid up. Instead, she drilled a three-wood from 230 yards away to within 30 feet of the cup.

“I knew with her amazing short game, I’d have to make birdie,” Rho said. “All week long, I’ve gone for it. There were absolutely no thoughts of laying up.”

Rho three-putted for par, but par was the best Nirapathpongporn could do. Two years ago, Rho took fifth place in the girls’ 13-14 division.

“I’m a different player than I was then,” she said. “My dad always said, ‘If you can just get that ball a little longer off the tee, no one can stop you.’ So I really worked on my distance this winter with my swing coach.”

Rho and Nirapathpongporn had an impressive gallery Friday. The UCLA, USC, Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona golf coaches followed the two uncommitted seniors for most of the round. Rho, second in the AJGA points standings, is looking at five schools: UCLA, USC, Stanford, Duke and Texas.

Apparently, Ben and Angela Rho knew what they were doing when they pointed their 12-year-old toward the driving range.

“I thought, ‘All you’re trying to do is get this little white ball into this little hole, what’s the point?’ ” she said.

The point, according to her parents, was that golf could take their daughter places swimming couldn’t.

“They thought golf was something you could do for the rest of your life,” Rho said. “They figured swimming wouldn’t last, even if I did make the Olympics.”

Rho wasn’t immediately convinced.

“I didn’t talk to my parents for about week after that,” she said.

But after a week or two on the driving range, Rho was hooked.

“Now, I thank them all the time for steering me to golf,” she said. “I know if I didn’t like it, they wouldn’t mind. I think they’d support me either way, if I wanted to be an astronaut or a rock star or whatever. I’m just happy I turned out to be a golfer. I’m doing a lot of things I’d have never done in swimming.”

Notes

Andrew Buckle of Bracken Ridge, Australia, won the boys’ 15-17 division in bizarre fashion over countryman Richard Moir. Moir had a two-stroke lead on No. 16 when he was given a two-stroke penalty for hitting a practice putt after tapping in for par. He then bogeyed the next hole, opening the door for Buckle who was playing in the group behind. Buckle shot a 68 on the South Course for a total of 285. Moir shot a 74 and finished at 287 with South African Richard Sterne. The tournament director said the supplementary rule was put in to speed up play. “I’ve never come across that before,” said Buckle, who was told he was leading on the 18th tee. “I couldn’t believe it. He’s not going to play that hole again. It doesn’t make sense.” Servite’s Nico Bollini shot 79 and finished at 300.