Southwoods grabs lead in Fil-Am

BAGUIO, Philippines – Manila Southwoods drew 35 points from Joseph Tambunting as it pooled a 135 to wrest a three-point lead over rival Mizuno halfway through the Fil-Am golf invitational tournament at the Camp John Hay course here yesterday.

Chepe Dulay scored 34 points while Teody Pascual and Sung Wan Yoon added 33 and 29 points, respectively, as the defending champions battled back from seven points down to seize control with a 258 as action shifts to the tricky Baguio Country Club for the final two rounds of the annual event presented by Toyota.

Forest Hills-Nicklaus, which stunned Southwoods and Mizuno with a solid 135-point output to grab the first round lead, struggled with 117 this time and slid to third with a 252, enabling Mizuno to assume the challenger’s role at 255 after 126.

Rodel Mangalubnan led Mizuno’s charge with 34 points, while Tichard Joson and King Stehmeier had 31 apiece and Juami Rocha contributed 30.

Forest Hills got 34 points from Juan Miguel Garcia while Junard Austria had a 33. But the rest groped for form at the tough up-and-down layout.

“Experience will come into play and BCC is a course where experience really counts,” said Stehmeier.