TAGAYTAY, Philippines – Dutch Guido Van der Valk birdied two of the last three holes to salvage a 72 and wrest a two-shot lead over Dino Villanueva at the start of the PGT (Philippine Golf Tour) Qualifying School at Splendido Taal Golf Club yesterday here.
Van der Valk, a veteran local campaigner, went three over after 10 holes but birdied the par-5 11th and closed out with a birdie-par-birdie stint to save a 38-34 card for the provisional lead with 30 players still to complete play at presstime.
Villanueva turned in a 74 to lead the morning group with Raul Miñoza, Jet Mathay and Belem Alarcon matching that two-over output in the afternoon flight. Korean Hong Soon Hyup and Japanese Toru Nakajima each had a 75 to likewise stay in early contention for berths in the Tour proper.
Albin Engino and Japanese Tomokazu Yoshinaga shot identical 76s as the starting 120-player field struggled in tough playing condition.
Artemio Murakami groped for form and strung nines of 40 for an 80, dropping to joint 58th and in danger of missing the halfway cut of the 72-hole tournament conducted by PGT.
After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the top 60, including foreign entries, with the top 30 and 10 foreign bets after four rounds gaining cards for the 2013 ICTSI-PGT circuit.
Johvanie Abaño, last year’s winner of the Q-School, shot a 77 in a tie with Park Jun Song, Rene Menor, Freddie Balisaga and amateurs Lloyd Go and Lawrence Celestino.
The qualifiers will join the top 40 players from last year’s Order of Merit ranking in this year’s circuit beginning with the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic on March 20 at Sherwood Hills.