Rates, Pucay, Lam move up

Jun Rates fired a four-under-par 68 yesterday to catch Ryan Lam and the veteran Mars Pucay at the top heading into the final 18 holes of the ICTSI Tournament Players’ Championship at Southlinks in Las Piñas.

Lam, winless in two years on the tour, birdied his last two holes for a 72 which Pucay matched to cling to the lead despite a closing double bogey-7 in the P3.5-million event that has had different leaders in the first 54 holes.

At 213, the leading trio stood just one stroke clear of Rolando Marabe (69), Ferdie Aunzo (70) and Elmer Saban (72).

Mark Fernando lay three behind despite a 75 and four others are within five shots in what has developed as a thrilling chase for the P650,000 top purse.

Second-round leader Jik-Jik Abdon finally paid the price of ripping it off the tees, signing for a horrendous 11 on the par-5 fourth hole to card an 82 and, for all intents and purposes, bow out of the title hunt.

After starting the day two strokes up on Pucay, Lam and Fernando, Abdon fell to joint 16th at 221 with Dante Becierra (71), Gerald Rosales (71), Miguel Ochoa (73) and Edward Reyes (75), eight strokes off the three leaders.

“I’d like to end the season with a win and this is my first time to get a crack at two victories in a year,” said Rates, who dominated the field at ICTSI John Hay last March.

Starting the day at joint eight, the diminutive Rates worked his way up with two birdies at the front, then rattled off three straight from No. 10 to highlight his day-best round.

The seasoned Pucay found the bushes on the right side of the 18th fairway off the tee and needed a lot of scrambling for his 7.

“It’s still anybody’s game,” Pucay said. “It will all boil down to precision (off the tees) on the final day. You need to find all 14 fairways to be able to score well. I think that anything under-par (today) could win it.”

Rufino Bayron, the first-round leader who floundered with a 79 on Wednesday, got back in contention with a 71 to be at 217 like Clyde Mondilla, the champion at Canlubang who shot a 75.

Obscure Paul Echavez fired a 70 for 218, catching Orlan Sumcad, the long-hitter who signed for a 73.

The event, which pulls the curtains down on the 16-stop season, is being backed by Nike Golf, Pacsports Phils. Inc., Srixon, Callaway, Mizuno, Empire Golf, Footjoy, Titleist, Custom Clubmakers, Sharp, KZG and Rudy Project.