Mariano, Gaccion shine as Pueblo ladies grab Luzvimin golf lead

Pueblo de Oro drew 50-point games from Pamela Mariano and Alethea Gaccion as it assembled a 181 to snatch a two-point lead after two rounds of the 2019 Champion Luzvimin Invitational golf tournament at Cebu Country Club late Thursday.

Mariano, now the lead player of Pueblo after anchoring Del Monte’s title romp at Taal Splendido last year, followed her 53-point output in the first round with 51 Molave points while Gaccion turned in a second straight 50-point game.

Juliane Borlongan and Marife Carmichael carded identical 40s as the Pueblo ladies outdueled the hosts, 181-178, to surge ahead with 18 holes left in the annual championship.

Cebu Country Club slowed down after a lead-grabbing 187-point output Wednesday, settling for a 178 behind Riko Nagai’s 47 points and Crytal Neri, Catrina Martinez and Mary Kim Hong’s 46, 45 and 40 points, respectively.

Despite yielding the lead, the hosts remained confident of reigning at home with the rest of the contenders in the premier Diamond division all but bowing out with mediocre outputs.

Valley Golf, with Mariel Tee firing another 55 points, actually improved from 170 with a 180 but stood 17 points off the lead.