Pinoys flounder with 8-over 152, tumble to 35th

SOUTH AUSTRALIA – The Philippines made a horrible stint at the Grange Golf Club course and wobbled with an eight-over 152 as it tumbled down to 35th place in the second round of the Eisenhower Cup of the World Amateurs here yesterday.

Hoping to come up with a better round at the par-72 layout after pooling a four-over 150 at the adjacent par-73 Royal Adelaide Golf Club in the first round Thursday, Rufino Bayron, Jerson Balasabas and Ferdie Aunzo found the going tougher instead, failing to recover from a poor start at the backside and finishing with over-par rounds.

Bayron actually checked his skid a bit by birdying No. 7 for a two-over 74 but Balasabas, who dropped four strokes in the first three holes at the back, made three bogeys against a birdie in the last nine holes for a six-over 78.

Worse was Aunzo, who shot himself in the foot with four bogeys, including three straight from No. 2, and two double bogeys with no birdie to show for an 80.

With a 302 aggregate, RP fell from joint 29th to a share of 36th with Estonia (155), virtually dashing its hopes for a top 10 finish in the tournament which drew 70 nations.

Scotland fired a nine-under 137 at Royal Adelaide and caught the United States, assembling a 137 at Grange, at the helm at 17-under 273, setting up a two-team duel for the championship in the biennial event.

New Zealand shot a six-under 138 at Grange but stood too far behind the joint leaders at 9-under 281 for third.

 while Sweden and Wales were at 8-under 282 and 7-under 283, respectively.

“Royal Adelaide is a lot tougher than Grange but Aunzo and Balasabas struggled with their game all day. They missed the narrow fairways and the greens while Bayron missed a number of birdie opportunities,” said assistant coach Nestor Mendoza.

The RP team, backed here by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Airlines, Stradcom Corp., Dynamic Sports and LORO Shirts and the National Golf Association of the Phils., stood ahead of regional rivals Malaysia (311-46th) and Thailand (313-48th) but trailed Singapore (152-297) by five. end it//thanks