San Miguel-Northern Cement keeps 5-point lead over Manila Southwoods

Defending champion San Miguel-Northern Cement hung tough on a day of ballooning scores yesterday, pooling 108 points built around the eight-over-par 69 worth 38 of Jingky Tuazon to stay five points ahead of Manila Southwoods after three rounds of centerpiece Fil Championship play of the 67th Fil-Am Invitational.

The talented Seniors field struggled over the up-and-down, tree-lined Country Club layout in Baguio and San Miguel-Northern Cement played hard enough to match Southwoods’ 108 and take a 373 tally into today’s final round.

Eddie Bagtas, the former pro and undoubtedly one of the finest players in the ranks, and Bing Sison chipped in 27 apiece, with Chito Laureta, the highest pointer for San Miguel in the second round on Monday, contributing 26.

Edmund Yee, the ex-Glowing Goldie of Santo Tomas in the UAAP, shot 31 points with Raul Minoza and Kui Sun-moon shooting 28s.

But Chang Duk-jung, the second South Korean expatriate in the Southwoods lineup, slowed down with 25 and counted as the fourth score for the Carmona-based squad.

With the two leaders showing vulnerability, Megafiber stepped into the picture as the third contender for the title after  a day-best 112 points to creep within 10 of San Miguel and five of Southwoods.