Coscolluela wrests 3-shot lead in Seniors

Caloy Coscolluela tamed the Wack Wack west course that played shorter from the regular tees with a one-over-par 73 yesterday and grabbed the solo leadership after the penultimate round of the 2001 Philippine Senior Amateur Open golf championship.

As the three first round frontrunners faded, Coscolluela, the Alabang Country Club golf director who once played for the national team, sparkled with steady nines of 37-36 to storm ahead by three strokes over three others.

The 55-year-old Coscolluela, making his debut here, completed two trips over the rain-drenched Wack Wack west course with a 150 aggregate after an opening-round 77.

Not too far behind at 153 were Alan Gaston, Tony Sarmiento and former champion Lucio Yan. All three had submitted identical scores the first two rounds, carding 74s yesterday after shooting 77s on Wednesday.

Estanislao Baltazar (74) and Joselito Jacinto (75) were very much in the running at 154 while Danny Pizaro, one of the three first day leaders, soared to a 79 and was tied with Teddy Yabes (78) at 155.

The two other first round leaders dropped far behind with Rico Javier in 11th spot at 159 after a 83 and Tito Eusebio crashing all the way down to 15th at 165 after an 89.

"I hit the ball very well today, I missed only four greens. It’s going to be different tomorrow though since there will some pressure," said Coscolluela, a member of a prominent clan in Bacolod.

Coscolluela had a birdie on the 12th against only two bogeys on the second and 15th.

The event is being conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines in coordination with the Federation of Philippine Senior Golfers, Inc. and the Wack Wack Senior Golfers Association.

The sponsors are Mizuno bossman Benny Gopez, Rep. Gilberto Duavit, Gov. Casimiro Ynares of Rizal, Lucio Tan, DHL and the seniors associations of Veterans, Aguinaldo, Valley, Founders, Luisita and Bonifacio.