Delariarte closes in on P1.1-M pot

CANLUBANG — Jerome Delariarte firmed up his bid for the princely P1.1 million purse in The Country Club Invitational with a second straight two-under par 68 yesterday, leaving behind erstwhile former co-leaders Benjie Magada and Cookie La’O and a charging Robert Pactolerin by sticking to a simple but effective game plan that netted him a four-stroke lead halfway through the P3.8 million championship here.

That could prove to be too big a deficit for his rivals to overcome especially on a course like The Country Club, short in relation to par but long in challenge and which is expected to play a lot tougher into the weekend play when the wind, surprisingly at its manageable level in the first two days, is expected to come into play.

Pactolerin, five down at the start of the round, flashed vintage form and charged home in the last flight with a three-under 67, so far the best on the leaderboard littered with over par scores. But that spectacular round could only pull him abreast of Rosales and Magada, who had 71 and 72, respectively, for identical 140s.

"I just stick to my game plan of hitting it into the fairway and leaving myself with uphill putts for birdies," said Delariarte, who banked on a solid start of three birdies in the first six holes to break away from a three-way logjam with a 33-35 card for a 136 aggregate. "I feel fortunate."

But luck almost always falls on truly-talented players with Delariarte bucking the testy pin placements that ruined many a bid for the second straight time with accurate iron shots that produced four birdies (Nos. 2, 5, 6, 15) and negated a couple of bogeys.

Except for those misadventures (Nos. 8 and 11), it was a pretty solid round of the 26-year-old Delariarte, the two-time national amateur champion, who has had a couple of so-so stints on the Asian Tour but whose stints abroad helped boost his confidence coming into this tournament put up by Ricky Razon to honor the memory of his late father Don Pocholo.

The wiry Magada, awesome with his 68 in the first round, struggled with his irons this time, failing to save pars in five times that he went out of regulation. He salvaged a 37-35 round with three birdies then said he’s lucky to be where he is now.

"Basta wag lang malaglag sa top 5, may pag-asa pa rin," said Magada.

Rosales failed to sustain a birdie-birdie-birdie finish in the first round, settling for a 36-35 although he vowed to strike back and put himself into contention for the million-peso prize, the richest purse ever staked in local pro tour outside of the Philippine Open, on Sunday.

Pactolerin, itching to regain his once lofty place in the pro ranks, sizzled with four birdies against a bogey in another wind-less day here.

La’O, a co-leader in the first round, struggled with a balky putter and limped with a 73, falling to a share of fifth place with Carito Villaroman, who fired the third and last under-par round in the day (69), and Cassius Casas, who groped for form with a 72, at 141, five shots behind Delariarte.

Defending champion Tony Lascuna failed to gain headway and came in with a second straight 73, dropping four strokes in the last four holes for a 146, 10 strokes off the pace, in a tie with Richard Sinfuego (70) and Peter Miñoza (76).

Mars Pucay shot a second straight 71 and tied Danny Zarate (72) and Elmer Salvador (72) at 142.