Red-hot Dino Villanueva sustains run, leads by 3

LIPA City, Batangas, Philippines — Dino Villanueva shifted into high gear with a switch in tee-time, running off four straight birdies to start his backside drive then sustaining his charge to the finish for a 66 and a three-stroke lead over Elmer Salvador and Peter Stojanovski midway through the Summit Point World 18 Challenge here yesterday.

With an 11-under 133 aggregate, Villanueva insisted there was nothing special in his game but credited his short irons as key to his continued surge in the $100,000 event at the Summit Point Golf Club that yielded a slew of low scores with the wind at manageable level.

“Nothing special but I hit my wedge shots pretty solid,” said Villanueva, who moved 36 holes away from finally nailing the elusive win in an 11-year pro career. “But I need to toughen up in the last two days to clinch it. A victory will really make our Christmas happy.”

His solid wedge shots set up birdie putts inside four feet in the first four holes. After drilling in another on No. 16, he overcame a bogey-bogey mishap linking both nines with birdies on Nos. 2 and 5 before tapping in on the ninth after missing an eagle-putt from 20 feet off a 4-iron second shot from 239 yards.

Salvador, seeking to redeem himself from a final round meltdown in the CAT Open at Luisita last week where he turned from a title contender to  joint sixth placer, snapped out of a so-so round after 12 holes with a birdie on No. 13 then closed out with three straight birdies from No. 15 to move to second with Stojanovski at 136.