Strange feeling his way to title

Scott Strange matched par when most of the contenders went over, enabling the Australian to regain a one-shot lead heading into today’s final round of the 90th Philippine Open at Wack Wack.

Strange, the solo leader after the first round and co-leader after the second, fired a 72 for a 210 total, just one tiny stroke ahead of 1993 champion Yeh Chang-ting of Taipei.

Yeh settled for a one-over 73 after two late bogeys on the 16th and 17th, and will be in the championship flight along with local boy Cookie La’O who had a 70 for a 214.

It’ll be a threesome worth watching.

But the clubhouse talk after the hot and humid third round swirled around Juvic Pagunsan’s disastrous finish that could have kept him up or tossing and turning on his bed all night.

Pagunsan, tied for fourth at the start of the day, made some noise with big birdies on the eighth, 13th and 15th, pushing him just two strokes off the leaders.

Then disaster struck.

Pagunsan bogeyed the 16th after hitting the water with his second shot and double-bogeyed the par-three, turtle-back 17th after sending his eight-iron tee shot to the bunker, getting on in two and three-putting.

On the 18th and final hole, and with a small crowd guarding the green, Pagunsan once again three-putted from 15 feet for another double-bogey, a 74 for the day and a tie for seventh at 216.

Pagunsan smirked as he walked off the green, feeling terribly sorry for himself for dropping five precious strokes on the last three holes. But he hasn’t lost hope.

"I just had a nightmare. But I still have a chance. So I will try my best tomorrow. The last three holes were really tough," said Pagunsan, six strokes off the lead like Angelo Que (70) and two foreigners.

Tied with La’O for third was England’s Chris Rodgers who struggled with a 75. And tied for fifth at 215 were Taipei’s Hsieh Chin-sheng (71) and Lu Wei-lan.

"I played verry good today. And I think it will give me a chance tomorrow. I like where I’m at right now," said La’O.

Rick Gibson, the 2002 champion and a Canadian married to former actress Josephine Garcia, and 1999 winner Anthony Kang had a 75 and 74, falling to a tie for 11th and 16th, respectively.

Next to La’O, Que and Pagunsan, the best-placed Filipinos are Elmer Salvador (71-219), 2000 champion Gerald Rosales (74-219), Mars Pucay (74-221) and amateur Jay Bayron (73-221).

Marvin Dumandan, another amateur, comes next at 75-222 followed by Jerome Delariarte (77-222), Marlon Dizon (75-225), Artemio Murakami (77-225), Robert Pactolerin (81-225), Anthony Balan (76-226), amateur Michael Bibat (76-226), Randy Geralde (84-233) and Danny Zarate (83-233).

Pactolerin, RP Open champion in 1990, was tied for 12th and just six strokes off after the second round. But a maze of errors pulled him all the way down to a tie for 60th place, 15 strokes behind Strange.