Santi Cup in the bag for Pinay golfers

Princess Superal and Pauline del Rosario sizzled with identical four-under 67s as the Philippines virtually wrapped up its first-ever Santi Cup title with a solid 134, moving 15 shots clear of archrival Thailand in the 54th South East Asian Amateur Golf Team Championship in Brunei late Wednesday.

So solid was the Filipinos’ third-round showing that Miya Legaspi’s 69 didn’t count in the three-to-play, two-to-count 72-hole event which the Thais had dominated in the five previous years.

The Filipinos pooled a 54-hole score of 20-under 406 at the par-71 Empire Hotel and Country Club course. Carding 141 Wednesday, the Thais lay second at 421.

Singapore stood third 144-429 followed by Malaysia (146-438), Indonesia (150-443) and Brunei (175-514).

“Princess finally hit her stride and showed her potential while Pauline and Miya remained as steady as ever,” said national team coach Bong Lopez of Team ICTSI. “Only a major disaster can stop them from winning.”

The defending Putra Cup champion Philippines, however, continued to struggle in men’s play after a 221 for a fourth-best 658, a whopping 45 strokes behind leader Thailand which carded a 205 for 613. Singapore lay second (212-636) followed by Malaysia (214-640).

Justin Quiban had a 72 and Tonlits Asistio and Rupert Zaragosa fired 73s for the round.