Cebu nears 2nd PAL title, leads by nine

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu Country Club finally mastered the tough Mactan layout with an impressive 125 and virtually put a lock on a second straight PAL Men’s Interclub championship as it pulled away with a nine-point lead over Alabang in the third round of the 66th staging of the annual event here yesterday.

LJ Go, who helped power the Cebuanos’ championship run in Davao last year, matched par 72 worth 36 points while former pro Carl Almario and Japanese tenner Gen Nagai churned out similar 31 points and Andre Borromeo added a 27 for that 125.

Counting their earlier scores of 120 and 130, the hosts pooled a 375 aggregate and will head home at the posh Cebu Country Club layout for the final round today with a big margin over a young Alabang squad.

Bayani Garcia, who scored one of two 32s for Cebu CC in the first day, also at Mactan, failed to count this time as he hobbled with a 23.

Alabang shot 122 points and wrested second spot from a fading Del Monte side with a 366 as AR Ramos turned in 34 points and Justin Quiban backed him up with a 31.

Andres Saldana fired a 30 while Dax Garcia added a 27 for Alabang, whose junior bet Christopher Popp failed to count with a 24.

Nagai will be the spearhead of Cebu CC as it tries to wrap things up on home turf today, and skipper Montito Garcia, who will be part of the mop-up group, believes that they will be very tough to beat because of course familiarity and with a nine-point lead.

“There will be no pressure,” said CCC skipper Ramontito Garcia. “When we were lording it over in the Founders (division), these same men have been so used to playing under immense pressure.”

Nagai will lead CCC’s final round charge along with Garcia, who believes that their familiarity with the layout, not to mention a nine-point lead, would be enough to complete their dream back-to-back title romp.

Del Monte, winner in 2011 and which started the day just three points off Cebu CC, fielded the same team that opened its bid on Wednesday but only Francis Morilla broke  the 30-point mark, his 31 leading the Bukidnon-based bets to a 117 for a 364 that practically put them out of championship contention.

Noel Langamin and Jelbert Gamolo struggled with 29s and Leonardo Lofranco groped for a 28 for Del Monte, which threw away Jovencio Lusterio’s 24.

Sta. Elena remained a distant fourth – exactly 100 points behind – after a measly 76 built around the 21 points of Tugie Evangelista.

Also at Mactan, Ace Stehmeier fired 32 points and towed Orchard to a 108 total for the day that shoved the Dasmariñas-based squad past erstwhile leader Negros with a 340.

Other scorers for Orchard were King Stehmeier (27), TJ Benitez (25) and Alan Arcilla (24).

But Manila Southwoods took the challenger’s role after turning in the day’s best score of 109 as the Carmona-based squad threatened at 339, guaranteeing a final round shootut in the Founders Division.

Jik-Jik Abdon led Southwoods’ charge with 32 points.

Negros slipped to third spot overall after shooting just 99 points, led by JR Tanpinco’s 30-point output.

The PAL Interclub is sponsored by the Department of Tourism, 105.1 Crossover, Solar Sports, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, 92.3 FM Radyo 5, Araneta Coliseum and AXN. Major sponsors are Airbus, Manila Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine Broadcasting Network, People Asia, Radio Mindanao Network, Business Mirror and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel (TFC).

Corporate sponsors include Radisson Blu Hotel, Shangri-La Resort & Spa, Boeing, Inquirer Golf Magazine, Philippines Graphic and Manila Bulletin.