MSW extends lead to 9, nears Fil-Am title

Carl Corpus

Aidric Chan came in at dusk with 32 points as Manila Southwoods assembled a 123 at the Baguio Country Club and edged closer to retaining the Fil-Am Invitational golf tournament crown with a nine-point lead over Forest Hills yesterday.

Southwoods and Forest Hills matched 118 outputs heading to their final men but Chan took the better of Rocky Co despite two bogeys in the last three holes for that 32 that backstopped Carl Corpus’ team-best 34 points and Joo Hyung Kim’ 30 and Junjun Plana’s 27.

Co ended up with a 24, matching Dan Cruz and Luis Asistio’s outputs, one of which counted for the team’s 118 topped by Jude Eustaquio’s 36 with Iñigo Raymundo and Marc Lu chipping in 30 and 28, respectively.

With that 123, Southwoods assembled a 424, building a big nine-point cushion over Forest Hills, which pooled a 415, heading to the final 18 holes of the centerpiece event presented by San Miguel, also at the BCC.

Despite the huge lead, Southwoods skipper Thirdy Escaño remained wary of their chances to retain the crown they won via an 88-point romp last year.

“It’s not really a very comfortable lead,” said Escaño. “I was hoping the boys will get a double-digit lead.”

After back-to-back 40 points at John Hay equivalent to four-under cards in stroke play, Paolo Wong struggled on the hilly BCC layout, hobbling with six bogeys and two pick-ups with a lone birdie to show for a 27, nine-over, the same score turned in by Plana, which counted for the team.

Wong’s poor round also enabled Eustaquio to grab the overall individual lead as the Forest Hills’ top gun pooled a 111 after that even 36 for a four-point lead over the Southwoods’ main player, who slid to second at 107. Joo Hyung Kim and Carl Corpus of Southwoods shared third with 106s.

Meanwhile, co-host Camp John Hay outshot three-day leader Greenwater Golfers, 97-89, to snare a two-point victory in Fil B.