BAGUIO—Manila Southwoods turned in a gutsy 128 at the tough Baguio Country Club here to cling to a three-point lead over a charging San Miguel-Northern Cement side halfway through the Fil Championship of the Fil-Am Golf Invitational presented by San Miguel Corporation yesterday.
Yuto Katsuragawa carded a 34, Justin Quiban recovered from a shaky start and salvaged a 33, Ryan Monsalve shot a 31 and Kristoffer Arevalo, who led the Carmona-based squad’s first-round charge with a 33, slowed down with a 30 as they pooled a 36-hole total of 255, counting their opening 127 Tuesday.
Five down at the start of the day, San Miguel-Northern Cement made its move with a solid 130 after a 122 as it assembled a 252, just three points behind Southwoods heading to the final 36 holes at the longer Camp John Hay tomorrow.
The event takes a break today.
“We played consistent today (yesterday). But we expect to score better in the last two days with Eddie Bagtas set to play,” said San Miguel captain Bobby Iñigo.
Rupert Zaragoza led Northern Cement with a 34 while John Philip Claro, Lanz Uy and Jelbert Gamolo added a 33, 32 and 31, respectively, in the five-to-play, four-to-count format event presented by Toyota.
Royal Northwoods, with amateur ace Jobim Carlos firing 36 points, equivalent to even par in stroke play, shot a 129 to move to third spot but stood 14 points off Manila Southwoods with a 241 aggregate. Other scorers for Northwoods were Liam Cully and Carlo Gatmaytan, who both had 32s, and Carlo Villaroman, who chipped in a 29.
Luisita improved with a 127 but remained way behind at 239 while Che’Lus I and Forest Hills tied at 225 after a 109 and a 115, respectively. Mizuno is at 224 after a 117 and Surigao had a 210.
In the Am Championship at CJH, Southwoods also stayed at the helm with a 266 after a 131, four points ahead of Batangas Barako, which shot a 132 for a 262.
Valley Golf limped with 119 for a 248 while Mizuno Evercode tallied a 241 after a 112.