Southwoods buries opposition

BAGUIO — CAP-Southwoods blazed the Camp John Hay layout with birdies that came like rain on a rainy day here, virtually re-staking its claim as the undisputed king in the Fil-Am men’s international amateur golf championship.

For the third straight day, a new scoring leader emerged from the talent-laden squad with Jerome Delariarte anchoring the team’s stirring 153-point effort with 40 points he spiked with six birdies, giving Southwoods a whopping 38-point lead over a bewildered Mizuno-DHL side. That moved the team within 18 holes of wrapping up the championship in the Fil Division for the third straight year.

No, make it only 36 points as the Southwoods team was later deducted two points from its 153 output after Delariarte was found to have holed out on No.5 when he should’ve picked up after missing a bogey putt.

The Mizuno bets actually improved on their feeble 120-point production in the second round with a 136 yesterday, but it grossly paled in comparison with the rock-solid games churned out by the members of the Southwoods team, which now has 418.

Angelo Que, the top scorer in the opener with 38 points, had two birdies in his 39 he highlighted with an eagle on the downhill par 5 No. 1, the same score put in by Erwin Vinluan, whose binge produced nine birdies, while Artermio Murakami closed out Southwoods’ scoring with 35 despite hitting six birdies on an otherwise murky, windy day.

Jun Jun Plana, who led the scoring for Southwoods with 37 Thursday, didn’t count with 30 in this five-to-play, four-to-count format event played under the PAL Stableford scoring system.

"It’s all over," conceded Jake Ayson, executive director of NGAP (National Golf Association of the Phils.), which handles the national squad composed mostly of players bannering the Mizuno team.

But Jeric Hechanova, team manager of Southwoods, doesn’t want his teams to fall into a false sense of security, vowing to urge his wards to still dish out their best when they gun for a three-peat today.

"No, it’s not over yet. A lot of things can still happen," he said.

Like if his players all forget to wake up for their respective tee-times, or if their Mizuno rivals all rise up to triple the Southwoods bets' 23-birdie splurge yesterday.

Gene Bondoc fired 37 points, one-under par in stroke play, for Mizuno, which pooled a 54-hole aggregate of 382 and which also drew 35 points from Mario Labajo, 33 from Marvin Dumandan and 31 from Emilio Tuazon while Jay Bayron failed to count with 29.

But CAP-Southwoods’ bid for a sweep of both divisions hit a snag after its team in the Am category blew a 30-point lead due to disqualification and now trails rival Mizuno by six points.

Juami Rocha, who carded a 36 and 38 in the first two rounds, was disqualified for breaking a tournament rule, which was only implemented this year. He allowed his caddie to score for the player he was marking for although he made the initiative to inform the committee of his violation Friday morning.

Those infractions pulled Southwoods down from the top to second with a 326 aggregate after a 114, six points behind Mizuno which had a 332 after a 112. Rocha rebounded by pacing Southwoods with 32 points. Hanson So had a 29, Montito Garcia tossed in 27 and Lyndon Barril scored 26 points. Thirdy Escano didn’t count with 25.

Manuel Grandez and Roy Decendario had 30 points apiece for Mizuno which also drew 27 points from Ingemar Kiellberg and 25 from Jojo Fernando, while Alfredo Marcelo failed to count with 22.

But the Southwoods camp just took the sudden turn of events in stride.

"We never complain, especially when losing. But I’m sure this setback will fire up the guys all the more," said Freddie Mendoza of Southwoods, referring to the string of disqualifications that hit the most fancied team in the fold.