Polished swing gives Cruz flawless 66

CARMONA — Unfancied Dan Cruz skipped some legs to fine-tune his swing. Now he found himself taking a big leap and eyeing a leg win.

Cruz fired a stirring bogey-free six-under par 66 in an otherwise fine day at the Legends Course of the Manila Southwoods yesterday, surging past a host of fancied players and into the lead halfway through the First Gentleman’s Professional Golf Circuit here.

"Hindi na ako naglaro sa Mindanao legs at nagpraktis lang ng nagpraktis. Kailangan ko kasing magkaroon ng kumpiyansa sa swing," said Cruz, who started the round in eighth place but found himself later towing a star-studded field with a 137.

That was one stroke up on Richard Sinfuego, who snatched the Orchard leg crown from Cassius Casas last week and who emerged the steadiest player in the fold with a second straight 69 in a day the first-day leaders uncharacteristically found the bunker-laden layout and the unpredictable putting surface too tough this time around.

Elmer Salvador, who sizzled with a 67 in a round highlighted by a seven-birdie binge on a 10-hole stretch Tuesday, three-putted twice and could only come up with two birdies to salvage a round of 72. He slid to third with a 139.

Casas, who managed to churn out a 68 in the first round despite a sore shoulder, went over par this time on a course he calls home, apparently hobbled by the throbbing pain in his rotator calf as he settled for a 73. He dropped to fourth with a 141.

The others stood six shots or more behind the new leader with Robert Pactolerin (72) and Japanese Wataru Toriguchi (73) sharing sixth place at 143 and two-leg winner Benjie Magada (72) in joint eighth place with veteran Roger Antonio (73) at 144.

Mars Pucay suddenly lost his form after winning two of the three legs in the Mindanao swing of this circuit bankrolled by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo’s foundation and San Miguel Beer as he carded a second straight 73 for a 146.

But while Pucay continued to struggle, Cruz started to recover, spiking his flawless round with four birdies at the front and highlighting it with pars he saved from a couple of times that he went out of regulation. He rolled a 20-foot birdie putt on the 10th then a tap-in birdie on the 18th capped an explosive day for the Wack Wack pro whose best finish in the current tour is sixth in the Bacolod leg.

Sinfuego, also enjoying top form after that come-from-behind victory at Orchard, gunned down three birdies at the front and could’ve stormed past Cruz at the leaderboard. But he flubbed back-to-back birdie putts from No. 10 inside five feet and dropped a stroke on No. 12 after missing the green.