Malaysian grabs PH Am junior lead as Manotoc, Zaragosa DQ themselves

MALAYSIAN Ervin Chang shot an eagle-spiked 2-under-par 70 yesterday and was left alone at the top with a two-shot lead in the Philippine Amateur Junior Open championship after Gabriel Manotoc and Rupert Zaragosa disqualified themselves after unintentionally breaking a rule yesterday.

Chang eagled the par-5 15th hole after shooting down two birdies that went with the same number of bogeys for a 219 aggregate heading into the final round of the 72-hole event presented by the MVP Sports Foundation at Sherwood Hills in Cavite.

Korean expat Park Min-ung took second at 221 after a 74, with Basti Lorenzo another seven strokes behind after a 78 even as Princess Superal put the girls’ title in the bag after firing a 70 in the event that is part of the PLDT Group Amateur Tout.

Manotoc and Zaragosa, who were in the same flight,  hit each other’s balls for their second shots on the 14th fairway and discovered their mistakes only after making their tee shots on the 15th.

Manotoc, who had earlier rounds of 72 and 70 and was four strokes up on Zaragosa at the start of the round, and Zaragosa promptly disqualified themselves after informing officials of their gaffes.

“I admire the honesty of those two boys for calling that penalty on themselves,” V. Gunalen, the Malaysian head coach who was following Chang in the flight ahead, said. “They are true ambassadors of the game.”

Superal opened a 10-stroke lead over Felicia Medalla, who fired a 72 with the seasoned Daniella Uy and Pauleen Del Rosario in third, another stroke back, in the tournament also backed by Pancake House, Nike, Golf Depot, Pacsports and Microtel as the official residence.

Uy shot a 76 and Del Rosario a 79. Musong R. Castillo