Rock-solid Bayron now 5 clear with second 69

TRECE Martirez, Cavite—Jay Bayron used another strong finish to shoot a second straight 3-under-par 69 in tough conditions yesterday to open up a five-shot lead over three players heading into the final round of the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational.

With a 138 aggregate at the soggy Faldo course here, Bayron moved within 18 holes of winning again after repeating as the Aboitiz Cebu champion in August last year.

Rookie Charles Hong (71) and veterans Mark Fernando (72) and Antonio Lascuña (73) shared second at 143, even as rookie Miguel Tabuena, the winner at Splendido last February, fired a flawless 69 for 144.

Bayron picked up three shots in his last five holes, finishing birdie-birdie to finish with 12 birdies for the first two rounds.

Lascuña, who started the day just one shot behind Bayron, couldn’t get going in the morning and is now hard-pressed to come up with a truly brilliant effort today to snap a winless spell in the four-year-old circuit.

“It is still possible,” Fernando, the winner at Del Monte last year, told the Inquirer in Filipino. “Anything can still happen on the final day because the course is playing tough and no one is really playing super so far.”

Reedy veteran Benjie Magada also returned  a 69—the only sub-par card in the morning— to vault into contention with a 145 total like Jonel Ababa, the three-leg winner last season who salvaged a level 72, and Joenard Rates.

Rates assembled a 70 and remained in the hunt for a high finish like former PH team spearhead Clyde Mondilla, the long-hitting rookie out of Del Monte in Bukidnon who fired a 71 for 146 like Jun Bernis, who shot a 73.

Winter rules were in effect because of strong rains on Wednesday afternoon.

The cut was pegged at 155 with former PH Open winner Artemio Murakami and veteran Rey Pagunsan among the casualties.

The leading scores:

138—J. Bayron 69-69; 143—C. Hong 72-71, M. Fernando 71-72, A. Lascuna 70-73; 144—M. Tabuena 75-69; 145 – B. Magada 76-69, J. Rates 75-70, J. Ababa 73-72; 146—C. Mondilla 75-71, J. Bernis 73-73; 147—E. Salvador 74-73, M. Pucay 73-74, O. Sumcad 73-74, M. Dumandan 71-76, D. Becierra 71-76; 148—R. Sasutil 76-72, C. Casas 75-73, R. Garalde 73-75, E. Estrera 72-76.