Dy seizes share of lead in Junior World

SAN DIEGO, California—Jed Dy didn’t want to give his dad a fist bump until he made a difficult par save that somehow turned his game around.

Shaky on the opening holes, Dy knocked in back-to-back birdies, then saved par from a difficult lie on the eighth in a crucial stretch he transformed into a 2-under-par 60 Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).

That effort pushed him into a three-way tie for the lead in the boys’ 9-10 years division of the 47th Callaway Junior World championships at Lawrence Welk Resort-Fountain course here.

The brilliant fightback put the smile back on the 10-year-old’s face and earned him a fist bump with his father Bobby, the Ayala president and CEO.

Dy went on to cap a solid back nine stint with a last-hole birdie to remain on course for a second championship in three years in this multination competition. He already won the 7-8 years division in 2012.

It proved to be one of a few positive notes in an otherwise struggling day for Filipino campaigners here. Dy’s compatriots in the girls’ 15-17 years also held firm at Torrey Pines North and kept the country’s hopes alive of continuing its string of victories here.

But it won’t be easy for Dy.

The incoming fifth grader at Chinese International School, who has a 121 aggregate like Ken Shibata of Japan and Hawaii’s Joshua Hayoshida, will try to fend off nine other kids who were within four strokes or less of the pace in an anything-can-happen shootout in the final round where good putting judgment on the undulating greens is crucial.

“It’s anybody’s game tomorrow. There are eight to 10 kids with a legitimate shot given how close the scores are, and I’m just hoping for Jed to play his best,” said the elder Dy, who followed the action on the course while monitoring developments back home in the devastating aftermath of Typhoon “Glenda”.

Daniella Uy and Miya Legaspi kept themselves in the running for the girls’ 15-17 years trophy at Torrey Pines North by breaking par for the second straight day but no other Filipino bet appeared close enough to deliver a much-needed victory in the face of superb opposition, including a Thai lass who is finding the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, venue for the girls’ 13-14 years class, too easy to conquer.

The lanky Uy fired a three-under-par 69 for 140, five shots off the Thai leader who stood at 135 after a 66, and was tied for fifth while Legaspi carded a 71 for 141 and solo ninth place.

Yuka Saso and Harmie Constantino lay third and fourth, respectively, in girls’ 13-14 that was reduced to a battle for second place by Thailand’s Papangkorn Tavatanakit, who set a Junior World record of 12-under 60 and a 36-hole total of 19-under 125.

Saso added a 68 to her 70 for 138 while Constantino improved slightly with a 69 for 139. That put them 13 and 14 shots behind going into the last 18 holes.

Still with a mathematical chance of winning were Wei Wei Gao and Bernice Ilas. Gao shot a one-under 71 and was running seventh, five shots off the leader, in the boys’ 13-14 years at Morgan Run Resort.

Bernice Ilas, carding a two-over 74 despite a knee injury for 144, will try to erase a six-stroke deficit in girls’ 11-12 at Rancho Bernardo Inn.

Carl Jano Corpus, who was in second place like Dy before he teed off, kissed his bid goodbye after a 76 for 144, eight shots behind the leader.

Dy bogeyed the fourth hole after missing the green and appeared groping for form until he nearly holed his tee shot on the seventh for an easy birdie. He followed that with a birdie from about 30 feet before making that vital par save on the next hole. He got to two under with another tap-in birdie on the 12th.