Carlos captures Riviera crown

SILANG, Cavite – One month after scoring a breakthrough via team championship, Jobim Carlos turned in a kind of finish that wins bigtime individual championships Saturday, closing out with a four-under 67 and beating multititled Tony Lascuña by two for the Philippine Golf Tour Asia's ICTSI Riviera Classic crown.

While his rivals came out cold after two weather delays and fumbled, Carlos emerged from the long break fiercer and hotter, birdying three of the last six holes inside five feet and completing his fightback from three down and into a cherished victory that slipped off his hands on a playoff loss to Clyde Mondilla at Manila Masters in Eastridge in his rookie season two years ago.

The former amateur hotshot then toiled in a winless second year campaign before teaming up with DJ Padilla to nail the Delimondo Pro-am championship last month.

“Today (yesterday), I made sure to stay focused unlike last week when I opted to instead check on my rivals’ games,” said Carlos, who totaled a five-under 279 and banked his first huge paycheck worth $17,500. The delay likewise worked to his advantage. “It really worked (delay) as I was able to relax and regain my bearing and confidence,” said Carlos, who fell by three behind Michael Bibat when play was first stopped to due heavy rains after nine holes and still stood two shots off when it was halted the second time after 11 holes due to threats of lightning.

Lascuña, who tied Bibat for the lead twice midway through the final round, failed to matched Carlos’ scorching windup, bogeying two of the last seven and ended up second at 281 after a 70. He received $11,500.

Englishman Grant Jackson came out of nowhere to snatch third place on a bogey-free 67, spiked by four birdies at the back, for a 282 worth $7,000 as third round leader Damien Jordan of Australia failed to sustain his charge and skied to a 79 to tumble to joint seventh.