S’woods virtual champs

Manila Southwoods’ young guns turned well-manicured Camp John Hay upside down yesterday, firing a Fil-Am record 156 third round points to open up a 24-point lead over Royal Northwoods to all but put the centerpiece Fil Championship title in the bag.

Reedy Yuto Katsuragawa and former world junior titlist Kristoffer Arevalo fired identical four-under-par 65s worth 40 each as the Carmona-based squad now has a 424 aggregate for the chance to turn today’s final round into a victory march.

Aira Alido assembled an eagle-spiked 39, while Aidric Chan also cracked par with a 37 as Southwoods came out with all guns firing and threw away Ryan Monsalve’s level 36.

“It was just one of those days when everyone clicked,” said non-playing skipper Thirdy Escaño.

Northwoods didn’t actually do too bad with a 151, but still lost a lot of ground in the face of Southwoods’ mind-boggling day.

Luis Castro fired 39 to lead Northwoods’ 400, 18 points clear of the third-running Mizuno Ecoverde.

—MUSONG R. CASTILLO