Del Monte, Aguinaldo zero in on Luzvimin golf crowns

Del Monte sustained fierce form and put in a solid 180 to pad its lead to three over titleholder Manila Southwoods-Masters after two rounds of the 2016 WGAP Luzvimin Golf Invitational at the Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club in Davao City Thursday.

Pamela Mariano followed up an opening 47 with a 48 while Rhea Mae Langamin, Martina Miñoza and Lesley Icoy backed her up with 47, 46 and 39 points under the Molave scoring system, respectively, as the Del Monte ladies, who pooled a 175 in the first round of the 54-hole championship to seize a one-point lead over the defending champions, assembled a 36-hole aggregate of 355.

That was three up over Southwoods-Masters, which ran away with the crown also here last year but couldn’t regain its desired spot in the face of the Del Monte bets’ solid showing.

The Carmona-based squad also improved from a 174 to a 178 as Therese Sabater shot a 48, Claudine Garcia made a 45 and Christine Naidoo and Claire Ong added 43 and 42, respectively. But its 352 total kept it behind Del Monte heading to the final 18 holes of the annual event organized by Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines.

Valley I stood far behind at third at 329 after a 170 while Villamor, last year’s winner of the Emerald division, shot a 161 for a 312 for fourth followed by Forest Hills (151-299) and Rancho Palos Verdes (138-281).

Camp Aguinaldo, with Josie Untal firing a 44, Mabel Salivio adding a 42 and Janeth Agripa and Edlyn Robas chipping in 37 and 29, respectively, also extended its lead in Emerald despite slowing down a bit with a 152 after a 154, its 306 putting last year’s Ruby class winner four points clear of Alabang, which turned in a second straight 151 for a 302 while Davao City made a 145 but stood too far off at 287 followed by Pueblo de Oro (136-266), Southwoods-Legends (122-250) and Negros Occidental (131-248).

Valley 2 carded a 141 for a 269 and kept a four-point lead over Apo Golf, which had a 265 after a 145, in Ruby with Bacolod in third at 249 after a 130 followed by Forest Hills (121-232), Navy (112-224) and Pueblo de Oro (77-175).

Victorias pulled away by 10 in Pearl Division, assembling a 204 after a 104 with Tagaytay Highlands at 194 after a second 97 while Orchard laid at 177 after a 93 followed by Manila Golf (82-174) and Baguio (91-173).