Singapore pulls away by 15, nears Putra Cup

SINGAPORE – Singapore continued its hot streak on another rain-delayed round, dominating a badly outclassed field, including the Philippines, with a stirring 11-under 202 yesterday to virtually reclaim the Putra Cup crown at the Singapore Island Country Club here.

The hosts turned the par-71 Bukit course into a virtual playground as Jerome Ng birdied the last four holes to fire a 67, the same output put in by Quincy Quek while Jonathan Leong added a three-under 68 for good measure.

So solid was Singapore’s third round output that Choo Tze Huang’s 72, good enough to backstop a team, failed to count for the Singaporeans, now out of reach with a 54-hole total of 618, 21-under par.

That was a whopping 15-shot lead over the Philippines, which came into the event confident of ending the country’s long title drought in the annual event but could come out of it frustrated for the 12th straight year.

Tonton Asistio and Jhonnel Ababa carded identical one-under 70s while Rufino Bayron settled for a 71 as Team RP assembled a 633 aggregate, seven shots clear of third running Thailand, which bounced back with a 213 for a 640.

“Our boys aren’t playing that bad but the Singaporeans are just playing extremely well. How can you beat a team which scores a seven-under card per round?,” said national team coach Bong Lopez.

Six down at the start of the round, the RP bets actually chopped the lead to four after four holes but Quek and Ng went to work and combined for a five-under card after 9 holes as Singapore moved further ahead by eight over the Filipinos.

The hosts, who ruled the four-team field in the 2006 edition of the event in Papua New Guinea, kept the momentum at the back with Ng underscoring the team’s series bid for the crown with that sizzling four-birdie windup.

Asistio, the best scorer for RP with a one-under 212, had a two-under card at the turn but made two bogeys on Nos. 12 and 18 against a birdie on the 15th for that 70.

Bayron also went two-under after seven holes but dropped a stroke on the eighth, failed to get out of the woods and wound up with a six on the par-4 10th, made another bogey on the 12th before birdying Nos. 15 and 17 to salvage an even par round.