CEBU CITY, Philippines – Tommy Manotoc marked his return to PAL Interclub play in style, hitting three birdies at the back for 53 points and powering Canlubang from eight points down to a two-point lead over defending champion Luisita halfway through the Seniors championship here yesterday.
“I didn’t know that I still have it,” said the 65-year-old Manotoc, who spiked his 53-point output with three birdies despite coming off a two-year layoff.
Manotoc’s one-over par effort at the tough Club Filipino de Cebu in Danao was five shots better than the rest of the field.
Canlubang, which lost by one point to Luisita last year in Bacolod, collected 140 points as Rolly Viray and Luigi Yulo backed Manotoc with 44 and 43 points, respectively, for a 269 aggregate.
Tony Olives did not count for Cangolf with 37 points.
Eight points up at the start of the day, Luisita struggled with 130 points on Francis Gaston’s 45, Hermie Maravilla’s 44 and Seve Roxas Chua’s 41 with Eduardo Sison’s 40 scratched out in the four-to-play, three-to-count format.
Cebu Country Club stayed in third spot with 130-256 with Koichi Horii scoring 48 and Editho Tirol and Lorenzo Alaan adding 42 and 40 points, respectively.
A far fourth at 242 was Orchard, which drew 46 points from Chito Servida with Luis Miguel Garcia and Ryan Abdon chipping 43 and 36 points, respectively.
Manotoc took a two-year sabbatical from the sport to concentrate on running the affairs of the National Golf Association of the Philippines.
But he seemed not to miss a beat at all.
“I felt good out there. I missed playing under this type of pressure,” said Manotoc who will also play for Wack Wack in the regular Interclub.
Manotoc actually struggled in the early going with back-to-back bogeys from No. 2 but birdied No. 3. After three straight pars, he dropped another stroke on No. 8 and holed out with a double-bogey on the ninth after over-shooting the green.
With Canlubang surging into contention, Manotoc is being pressed to play the final round at Mactan.
“If we could find a way to bring a golf cart there, I might play,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eagle Ridge padded its lead to 11 over Negros Occidental in the Founders division.
Eagle Ridge collected 127 points from Korean Lee Tonghwa (45), Cesar Castro (42) and Ryoo Si Kun (40) to improve to 260.
Negros Occidental drew 124 points from Federico Locsin III (44), Lito Ong (41) and Rene Silos (39) for 249, five shots ahead of Pueblo de Oro.
Scoring for Pueblo de Oro were Clifford Celdran (43), Miguel Celdran (34) and Jeun Yang (34).
Hotel H20, Travelife, Boeing International Corp., Business Mirror and GE Aviation are sponsoring the twin events. Other backers include Mareco Broadcasting Network (Crossover), People Asia Magazine, Whealth Inc., Aerospace, Uniglobe Travelware Co. Inc., Tanduay Distillers and Intercontinental Manila.
Day 2 Scores:
Championship
Canlubang 269, Luisita 267, Cebu 256, Orchard 242, Alta Vista 237, Manila Golf 234, Socal Redhawk 223, Victorias 198, SFO Crystal 190, Club Filipino de Cebu 178, PGAQ 158, Fil-Am Fairfield 150, Fil-Am N J 131