TEAM Philippines placed fourth in the Nomura Cup after submitting a closing 144 on Friday at Bayhood No. 9 International Golf Club in Beijing.
Jet Hernandez shot a one-under-par 71 and Rolando Bregente carded a 73 as the Philippines finished with a 570 total, 13 shots behind champion Hong Kong.
Markus Lam had a 67 and Ethan Tian scored a 69 as Hong Kong completed a wire-to-wire victory, ending up with a 19-under 557 aggregate, four clear of Japan, which closed with a 138.
Kaito Sato had a 68 and Taisei Nagasaki fired a 70.
Korea also had a 138 for a 568 total, with Joguk Jeong shot shooting a 68 and Jeyi Son adding a 70.
The Philippines wound up at 570 with earlier scores of 142-146-138.
The 21-year-old Hernandez finished in a tie for sixth spot individually in the Asia-Pacific team golf championship.
‘I am very proud with how all of us battled even if we didn’t have our A-game the entire week,’ Hernandez said. He returns to Manila before leaving for the US to resume his psychology studies at the University of Denver.
‘We know we can compete with the best countries in the region. We just have to continue putting ourselves in these situations.’
Team Philippines started out the final day trailing by five.
‘It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we gave it our best till the very end,’ 18-year-old Shinichi Suzuki said after failing to count with his worst score for the week, a 77.
‘Managing to finish fourth as a team is still a solid job,’ said Hernandez, who will start his senior year in Denver and will likely play a fifth year before turning pro.