Del Monte leads by 18, leaves seniors field gasping

Romeo Jaraula —PAL PHOTO

MANOLO FORTICH, BUIKIDNON—Del Monte sustained its relentless pursuit, and has all but succeeded in nailing down its first Championship division crown in the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Seniors Interclub golf tournament.

The only thing left to be decided in the final round on Sunday—and this has taken a very interesting twist—is the battle for second spot.

“It’s going to be difficult for them (opponents),” playing skipper Yoyong Velez said when pressed by the Inquirer, referring to the chasing pack that will try to overhaul a huge deficit that Del Monte built after a third round 155 had the Bukidnon-based squad opening up an 18-point lead over Canlubang with just a round left.

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“I should know, because we are the ones who usually play catch up every year—and we never succeeded,” Velez added with a slight laugh as Del Monte takes a 460-point aggregate into the fourth round at Pueblo de Oro in Cagayan de Oro.

Romeo Jaraula returned a level par 72 worth 54 points at the tree-lined Del Monte layout here, Crispin Aparilla backed him up with 53 and Billy Adag contributed 48 for another eye-popping tally that Cangolf non-playing captain Tony Olives said the leaders made it “look like they were playing another course.”

Cangolf gave chase and lost ground for the second straight round even with Jessie Hernandez and Rolly Viray shooting 50s and Pem Rosal adding 48 for 148 and 442 overall.