Ababa, pal buck winds, lead by one

SILANG, Cavite– Edgar Ababa and Marvin Dumandan survived unpredictable greens, difficult pin placements and powerful winds to take a precarious one-stroke lead after the second round of the P1-million U-Bix Riviera Pro-Am Golf Championship at the Langer course here.

Ababa, a battle-scarred pro, and Dumandan, a young member of the national team, turned in a three-over-par 74 after more than four hours on the course and, with their two-day total of 150, will tow two teams tied at 151 heading into the third round of the one-ball, twosome event.

The father-and-son tandem of Juanito and Juvic Pagunsan also carded a 74 despite a 40 on the back nine while Mars Pucay and his amateur partner Jose Roy III submitted the best round of the day — a 73 that kept them in the hunt for the P200,000 winner’s purse.

"Magaling lang kasi ang partner ko," said the 48-year-old Juanito, pointing to his 23-year-old son who won the individual gold in the recent Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. "Sumablay nga ako ng one-footer sa 14th hole eh sumimangot ang mukha. Pero okay lang kami sa placing."

Alone at 153 was the tandem of Noli Kempis and Don Erwin Vinluan (79-74).

Tied at 155 were the pairs of Gerald Rosales and Danny Pizarro (78-77), and Vivencio Lascuña and Jay Bayron (78-77), followed by Armando Eso and Neil Catalan at 156 (78-77).

After two days, no team has succeeded to break – or even match – par in the event that was last held in 1996. In fact, some of the pros have predicted a winning score not better than 12-over. Under the rules, pro players will hit tee shots on even-numbered holes and the amateurs on odd-numbered ones.

Gerard Cantada and Eddie Boy Lopez, who shared the first-round lead with Wendy Superal and Jerome Delariarte with their 73s, went limped home with disastrous 12-over-par 84 for a three-way tie at 157. Superal and Delariarte was even worse with an 85 for a 158 total.

‘Nakakahilo ang hangin. Mahirap ang greens at grabe ang pin placements. Isipin mo, par-3 na 234 yards driver ang ginamit at short pa din," rued Danny delos Santos, whose partnership with Jose Crisostomo produced an 86 for the day, giving them a 167 total or 25-over for the tournament.

Cantada and Lopez struggled all day and stood nowhere near the form that gave them a share of the lead in the first round where they scored pars on all but two holes – the third and the fourth.

They never got going yesterday after going four-over on the front nine. Then the duo bogeyed the 12th, 14th and 16th holes and double-bogeyed the 17th before turning in a disastrous quadruple-bogey on the par-4, 438-yard 18th. Then playing three, Cantada fell short with his pitch from 70 yards before his partner was penalized a stroke for a accidental "double touch." They were on in six and two-putted for an eight.

The closing hole, its green guarded by three bunkers and a cliff on the right side, was the most difficult for the day, yielding only a single birdie – that of Rodolfo Cuello and Vincent Tecson – and 21 pars against the field of 120 teams.