Luis Castro, Harmie Constantino edge closer to Junior crowns

MANILA, Philippines — Luis Castro stumbled with a first over-par card but still stretched his lead to nine with a 73 while Harmie Constantino broke par for the first time and went three-up over Junia Gabasa with a 71 in the third round of the Philippine Junior Amateur Golf Championship at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Trece Martires, Cavite yesterday.

Castro, who posted a commanding eight-stroke lead after 36 holes with a pair of 71s, bucked an early pair of double bogeys with birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 then birdied the par-5 15th for the third straight day to save a 38-35 card and all but wrap up the boys’ championship with a 215 aggregate.

That was nine strokes ahead of Sean Ramos, who failed to cash in on Castro’s shaky start and finished with a higher card of 74 for a 224 while Carl Corpus also wound up with a 74 and fell 11 strokes behind at 226 heading to the final 18 holes of the annual event sponsored by MVP Sports Foundation and held as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour.