Mizuno virtual Fil-Am champ with 14-pt lead
BAGUIO CITY—Mizuno put in a solid 131 at Camp John Hay to double its seven-point lead over Team Sparta and all but wrap up the Fil Championship crown with one round left in the 64th San Miguel Fil-Am Men’s Invitational golf tournament here yesterday.
King Stehmeier, Raymund Sangil and Justin Limjap fired identical 34 Molave points as the Mizuno Superstars played to their true potential at the up-and-down layout, although Ace Stehmeier struggled a bit with a 29.
With a 373 aggregate counting the 242 it pooled at Baguio Country Club, Mizuno opened what looked like an insurmountable 14-point lead over Team Sparta, which settled for 124 and 359.
“We have to play our usual games,” said Mizuno skipper King Stehmeier. “We cannot be too complacent. We would play the CJH course as if we are trailing.”
Manila Southwoods moved up to third at 338 after a 120 as last year’s champion Forest Hills floundered with a paltry 106 for 331.
Tonton Asistio shot 33 points to lead Team Sparta, which also drew a pair of 31s from Erwin Temena and Rading Decepida and a 29 from Thirdy Escaño.
“We are happy to be where we are now,” said Team Sparta captain Allan Pasion. “But if the chance to win comes up, we’ll be extremely delighted with it.”
Manfred Guangko came up with 33 points, Joseph Tambunting hit a 31 and Ferdie Agustin and Junjun Plana added 29 and 27, respectively, for Southwoods.
After trailing Mizuno by just one at BCC, Forest Hills slipped to fourth as Gabriel Atienza scored 29, Edgar Lee and Ronald Littaua each carded 27 and Raffy Garcia groped for 23.
In other results, Team Surigao II assembled 104 at John Hay and finished with 404 to beat Ultra Flite Golf Club I by eight points for the Fil-B crown. Martin Guiang fired 29 points and Ace Barbers, Ed Lopez and Bing Alcantara added 26, 25 and 24 points, respectively, for the Surigao squad.
Ultra Flite, led by Roger Crespo and Rey Talatala’s identical 27 points, failed to sustain its third-round output with 103 and a 396 total for second while Batman, with Bernard Chang carding 29, finished third with 102-394.
Team Baguio ended up fourth with 103-386 followed by Haciendas De Naga (85-365), Sultan Kudarat (99-345), Watercraft Venture (93-336) and Bulakeños (81-333).
Fil-Am Seattle also ran away with the Fil-E crown with a 333 total after an 88 for a whopping 36-point romp over Calamba Boys Golf Team, which had an 81 for 297. Eton Golf placed third with 292 after an 80.
In Fil-D, Fil Am Japan II pooled 103 for 285 to race away by 21 points from San Miguel Corp., which had 94-264 while Square and Compass Golf of Nueva Ecija shot 90 for 260.
Lito Fuentes scored 30 points, Ron Nichols had a 25 while Ferdie Rivera and Noel Sebastian each had 24 for Fil Am Japan II.
SMC drew 33 points from Mikey Punzalan but Joey Castro, Sammy Diciano and Rolly Valdez managed 22, 20 and 19, respectively.
