Zaragosa grabs lead with a 74

TINY Rupert Zaragosa birdied the 18th hole for the second successive day to salvage a 2-over-par 74 and grab a one-shot lead over an equally prodigious Korean teener after 36 holes of the MVP Sports Foundation-Philippine Amateur Open championship yesterday.

Zaragosa nailed an eight-footer on the closing hole to forge ahead with a 147 total over Jong Sang-in, who carded a 75 in the centerpiece event of the PLDT Group Philippine Amateur Tour at Wack Wack East.

Basti Lorenzo, the 15-year-old son of a restaurateur who is using a new mallet putter for just the second tournament, also fired a 75 and moved up to third at 149, even as the crack Singaporean contingent finally made its presence felt.

Jerome Ng, the veteran Singapore national team mainstay, fired one of only two 73s for the day under difficult conditions and trailed Zaragosa by four strokes like teammate George Foo, the half-Filipino elder brother of last year’s winner Gregory.

Foo dropped shots on the 10th and 18th and settled for a 74, with the third man on the Singaporean A-Team, Marc Ong, shooting the other 73 for a 153.

Ong opened with an 80 on Monday in the event backed by Pancake House, Titleist, Golf Depot, Pacsports and Autohub, the official transport service provider for the foreign delegates.

“I feel great about my game, just the way I felt when I won in 2010,” Zaragosa said. He won the PH Men’s Match Play championship over Jik-Jik Abdon over this same tree-lined course two years ago.

First-round leader Wolen Superal skied to an 80 after a frontside 44 that included a double bogey on the seventh for 152, five shots off Zaragosa and in a tie with Malaysian Mohammad Razif, who had a 76.

“Anything can still happen on this course,” said Ng, who was the surprise package as a rookie for Singapore when it won the Putra Cup over the Philippines at Bhukit course in Singapore.

“It’s a beautiful course, but it can bite you if you don’t respect it,” said Foo, whose mother, Clarissa Elizalde, has “spent more than half her life in Singapore.”

Meanwhile, Dottie Ardina submitted the first under-par card of the tournament, shooting a 70 to grab a four-stroke lead over Jayvee Agojo at the start of the 54-hole women’s play earlier in the day.

Mia Legaspi took third with a 75 and Princess Superal lay another shot back with a 76.

The leading scores (Filipino unless stated):

Men’s: 147—R. Zaragosa 73-74; 148—JS-In (Kor) 73-75; 149—B. Lorenzo 74-75; 151—J. Ng (Sin) 78-73, G. Foo (Sin) 77-74; 152—M. Razif (Mal) 76-76, W. Superal 72-80; 153—M. Ong (Sin) 80-73, E. Tan 76-77, J. Austria 75-78.  Women’s: 70—D. Ardina 34-36; 74—J. Agojo 38-36; 75—M. Legaspi 38-37; 76—P. Superal 39-37; 77—B. Damian (Mal) 39-38, A. Unson 38-39; 78—LK Go 41-37, SH Koh (Sin) 39-39, C. Rodriguez 38-40