Pinoy golfers pull away in Asean srs

CARMONA, Cavite - Exploiting their homecourse advantage to the hilt, the Philippine bets amassed a 223 yesterday to take a commanding 18-stroke lead going into the final round of the 17th Asean Seniors Amateur Golf Championships.

Col. Rico Javier carded a 73, Carlo Gamban fired a 74 and Alex Montelibano added a 76 as the Filipinos all but settled the issue after just 36 holes of action at the Legends course of the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club here.

The Filipinos kept their frontrunning position with a 455 aggregate, far ahead of Thailand which was at 473 and Malaysia (481) in the 54-hole tourney sponsored chiefly by Globe Telecoms. Singapore remained in fourth and Indonesia fifth.

Vira Kirivatana boosted the Thai hopes with his own version of 73 while Jim Rajaratman, last year's individual winner, led scoring for Malaysia with a 76.

Javier played an almost flawless game from tee to green as he strung up 16 consecutive pars before three-putting the 17th for his first and only bogey. He closed out with yet another par on the par-5 18th.

Carlo Gamban, whose 76 in the first round gave RP an 11-point cushion, scored a 74 and the fancied Alex Montelibano finished with a 76. Andy Co did not count for the second straight day with a 77.

The contending teams transfer to the Couples Course of the Riviera Golf and Country Club today for the final round.

In the opening round of the 36-hole individual play, Florene delos Santos upstaged the top guns with a superb one-under-par 71 to lead Francis Calma by one.