SW slows down at Club Filipino, lead now just 12

CEBU—Slowing down a bit over a layout its talented young guns are not familiar with, Manila Southwoods (SW) on Thursday pooled 133 points to see its overnight 14-point lead trimmed a little by Eastridge halfway through the 74th Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub men’s championship.

Ryan Monsalve and Lanz Uy fired one-over-par 73s worth 35 points each, and Shinichi Suzuki fired 34 that went with Masaichi Otake’s 29 as the Carmona-based bets take a 274 total going into the third round also at Club Filipino in Danao, now just 12 ahead of Eastridge.

Jun Jun Plana, who fired 38 points in the first round on Wednesday, failed to count with a 28, even as Ronel Tagaan fired 36 and Zach Villaroman shot 35 to lead Eastridge.

“We didn’t hit our target score today,” nonplaying skipper Thirdy Escaño said. “These things can happen.”

Chris Remata had 34 and Edison Tabalin added 30 for Eastridge, which is using young ex-caddies as its core here with Carito Villaroman overseeing the team.

Southwoods will play Kristoffer Arevalo in the final two rounds and have two other Philippine team mainstays in Gab Manotoc and Cody Rolida at his disposal.

Cebu Country Club (CC) also struggled over at Club Filipino, trailing by 18 now after a second round 130 built around the 36 of Jacob Cajita and 35 of Jufil Sato. The hosts’ next two scores were the 30 of Bayani Garcia and 29 of Jon Alvarez.

Carl Almario will come out for Cebu CC for the last 36 holes with the fourth round slated at their home course on Saturday.