BACOLOD–With a trio of aces returning one-over-par 71s worth 35 points each, Eastridge-Primehomes on Wednesday tallied 105 at tricky Bacolod Golf Club (formerly Binitin) to open up a 12-point lead in the 76th Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub Men’s Championship division tournament, with the surprise of the day being powerhouse Manila Southwoods skidding to third spot.
Jeff Lumbo, Alex Bisera and Ronel Taga-an formed a three-sided blade that Eastridge used to slice a huge gap on the field heading into the final two rounds of what is considered as the country’s unofficial team golf championship, with the Binangonan-based taking a 204 aggregate into the third round also at Binitin.
Jeff Lumbo (Photos by Jeremiah Alagaban)
But non-playing skipper and club general manager Gimo Asuncion is not about to fall into a trap of going all out in round three, as he was still deep in talks with team members after their sterling effort to prepare rosters that will see action in the final to days.
“It’s always good to be leading,” Asuncion said. “But we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We would want to come out with balanced lineups for the last two rounds. We will stick to the game plan that we came here with.”
So efficient was Eastridge that it threw away the 31 points of 12-year-old wonder Vito Sarines even as Tagaytay Highlands-Team IMG is now the new pursuer after tallying 98 points built around the 34 of Joaquin Tolentino.
Raymund Sangil and Masaichi Otake accounted for 32s to complete scoring for Tagaytay Highlands, which also discarded a 31 turned in by another South Korean, Steve Yoon.
Southwoods, which is bidding to win this tournament for the sixth time in the last seven years, has never lagged this far behind in a dominant performance that has stretched for more of the last decade.
But after tallying just 94 points led by Patrick Tambalque’s 32, the Carmona-based squad is now 17 points behind.Emil Hernandez and Mico Granada accounted for 31 points each, while comebacking ex-pro Jerome Delariarte had his struggles and failed to count with 24 points.
Cebu Country Club, meanwhile, wrested a three-point lead over Riviera Golf Club in the Founders division after shooting 94 points over at Negros Occidental Golf Club (formerly Marapara) for a 189 aggregate, with Jacob Cajita returning 34 points.
Marko Sarmiento accounted for 32 and Harvey Sytiongsa contributed 28 to round out scoring for Cebu CC, a former Championship division campaigner which discarded the 20 points of Julius Neri.
Henry Bolano shot 33 points and Raymond Escalona fired 31 to make up the bulk of Riviera’s 92 points for 186 that dropped first round leader Canlubang to third spot another point behind after the Sugar Barons accounted for just 86 despite Jonar Austria’s 35 points.
Gerald Katigbak’s 28 was the final score that counted for Riviera, while the 26 of Fernando Zaldarriaga and the 25 of Jose Carlos Yulo completed scoring for the Sugar Barons.
Corporate Affairs Department, G/F Lucio K. Tan, Jr. Center, PAL Gate 5-A Andrews Avenue, Pasay City, Philippines 1300 The 76th staging of the PAL Interclub is supported by Platinum sponsors PRIMAX Broadcasting Network and Asian Journal.
Mastercard is a gold sponsor while RMN is a silver sponsor.
ABS-CBN Global is joining as a bronze sponsor while VISA, Philippine National Bank, SM Bacolod,
Tanduay and Asia Brewery are minor sponsors. Citadines is a hotel partner.
Partial results:
CHAMPIONSHIP
Eastridge 204 (99-105), Tagaytay Highlands 192 (94-98), Manila Southwoods 187 (95-94), Del Monte 177
(84-93)
FOUNDERS
Cebu Country Club 189 (95-94), Riviera 186 (94-92), Canlubang 185 (99-86), Negros Occidental Team 1
180 (91-89), Brittanika 175 (92-83), Sherwood hills 169 (87-82), Team Brookside 166 (90-76), Zamboanga
165 (71-94), Forest Hills 164 (82-82), The Orchard 163 (84-79), Tagaytay Midlands Team IMG 161 (85
76), Valley 160 (77-83), Wack Wack 159 (82-770, Rancho Palos Verdes 157 (82-75), Bacolod Team 1 157
(85-72), Pueblo de Oro 156 (81-75), Apo 150 (77-73), Iligan 149 (79-70), Filam LA 1 144 (79-65),
Alabang 140 (69-71), Filam Fairway 139 (77-62), Villamor Air Base 136 (77-59), Fairways and Bluewater
Boracay 115 (59-58), MSU Team 1 111 (57-54)
