Raymart Tolentino paces Junior Am

TRECE MARTIREZ, Cavite—Described by his swing coach as a grinder, Raymart Tolentino Tuesday showed why he is so.

After signing for a wet 7 on the par-4 ninth, Tolentino kept his poise and gutted out a one-over-par 73 for a one-shot lead over unknown Joseph Orbito at the start of the Philippine Junior Amateur golf championship presented by the MVP Sports Foundation at Sherwood Hills.

The 16-year-old Tolentino, who will try out for a slot in the University of San Francisco golf team in a couple of weeks, gunned down two of his three birdies coming in to emerge as the surprise leader on a humid day as Rupert Zaragosa, Kristopher Arevalo and Korean defending champion Park Min-ung all struggled.

Diego San Pedro and Ramir Roque both shot a 76 like Park, with Zaragosa managing a 77 like Gabriel Manotoc after bogeying the last four holes.

Arevalo, the 15-year-old who won the Callaway Junior World’s 13-14 division last year, had nines of 39-40 to be six shots adrift and, like Zaragosa, would need to make up some ground starting Wednesday to stay in the hunt in the final two rounds of the event forming part of the PLDT Group Amateur tour and backed by Pancake House, Golf Depot and Pacsports.

“He’s a grinder,” said Carito Villaroman, the most successful Filipino jungolfer ever, said of his ward Tolentino.

“He’s usually very consistent, but once he makes a mistake, he makes sure that he bounces back from it.”

Tolentino, who finished in the top 40 of the 15-17 division in the Junior World in San Diego last year, was even after eight holes but hooked his drive into the water on the ninth.

Daniella Uy fired a 74 and held a one-shot lead over Samantha Bruce and Harmie Constantino in girls’ play, with Bianca Pagdanganan another shot back.

Sam Martinez fired a 77 and Abegail Arevalo shot a 78 like Felicia Medalla and Yuka Saso, with Rivani Sihotang of Indonesia the best-placed foreigner in the field with an 81 like Sofia Chabon and Bernice Olivares-Ilas.