Southwoods bucks San Miguel surge

BAGUIO, Philippines – Manila Southwoods turned in a gutsy 128 at the tough Baguio Country Club to cling to a three-point lead over a charging San Miguel-Northern Cement side halfway through the Fil Championship of the Fil-Am Golf Invitational presented by San Miguel Corp. here yesterday.

Yuto Katsuragawa carded a 34, Justin Quiban recovered from a shaky start and salvaged a 33, Ryan Monsalve shot a 31 and Kristoffer Arevalo, who led the Carmona-based squad’s first round charge with a 33, slowed down with a 30 as they pooled a 36-hole total of 255, counting their opening 127 Tuesday.

Five down at the start of the day, San Miguel-Northern Cement made its move with a solid 130 after a 122 as it assembled a 252, just three points behind Southwoods heading to the final 36 holes set at the longer Camp John Hay tomorrow.

The event takes a break today.

“We played consistent today (yesterday). But we expect to score better in the last two days with Eddie Bagtas set to play,” said San Miguel-Northern Cement captain Bobby Iñigo, referring to the former pro who also anchored San Miguel’s seniors team to victory last week.  

Rupert Zaragoza led Northern Cement with a 34 while John Philip Claro, Lanz Uy and Jelbert Gamolo added a 33, 32 and 31, respectively, in the five-to-play, four-to-count format event presented by Toyota.

Royal Northwoods, with amateur ace Jobim Carlos firing 36 points, equivalent to even par in stroke play, shot a 129 to move to third spot but stood 14 points off Manila Southwoods with a 241 aggregate. Other scorers for Northwoods were Liam Cully and Carlo Gatmaytan, who both had 32s, and Carlo Villaroman, who chipped in a 29.

Luisita, which matched Northwoods’ opening 112, improved with a 128 but remained way behind at 240 as Brian Kim also matched par 36, Weiwei Gao and Joo Hyung Kim tossed in a pair of 32 and Dan Emilio Cruz made a 28 for the young Tarlac-based squad whose average age is 15.2.

Che’Lus I and Forest Hills tied at 225 after a 109 and a 115, respectively while Mizuno is at 224 after a 117 and Surigao had a 210. 

In the Am Championship at John Hay, Southwoods also stayed at the helm with a 266 after a 131, four points ahead of Batangas Barako, which shot a 132 for a 262. Valley Golf limped with 119 for a 248 while Mizuno Evercode tallied a 241 after a 112.