BAGUIO CITY – Manila Southwoods virtually clinched on Tuesday the championship titles in the Fil and Am divisions of the 70th Fil-Am Invitational Golf Tournament at the Baguio Country Club.
Lanz Uy, who solidified his bid for the individual plum, led the Carmona, Cavite-based squad with 33 points as the team finished with 115 points and up its total to 424 total or a 44-point advantage on second running Forest Hills.
Backstopping Uy are Aguri Iwasaki, Sean Ramos, and Taisei Shimizu, who scored 29, 27 and 26, in that order, to count for Southwoods which is now staring at a second straight seven title, the most for any team in the 70-year-old tournament that is said to be the biggest in this part of the world.
Aidric Chan failed to count anew as the anchor of the Philippine team had a 24, the second straight day he did not count in the five to play four to count tournament.
Uy has a five-under total 113 and a four-point lead on Aguri Iwasaki and further are two of his teammates.
Relegated to the battle for second place after day two, Forest Hills maintained its cool to up its lead on Royal Northwoods by five.
Inigo Raymundo top-billed for Forest Hills with 30 points, Rocky Co chipped in 28, while Dan Cruz and Leandro Bagtas added 27 and 26, respectively for the team’s 111 points and three day total of 380.
Royal Northwoods had a triple 27 from Stephen Sul, Joaquin Hernandez, and Gido Mandanas and Nik Gatmaytan added a 26 for the team’s 107, the day’s worst in the flight, and 375 points.
Team Time Cargo matched Southwoods’ production for a three-day aggregate of 355.
It could be another double whammy for Southwoods as its Am Championship team stretched its lead further by a marker to 20.
Masaichi Otake broke par with 36 points and paced Southwoods’ 122 day three production that put them at 344 or 20 off Batangas Barakos at the Camp John Hay course.
Jeff Jung made 33, while Santino Laurel and Josh Jorge added 27 and 26, respectively for the very young Southwoods squad.
Batangas’ 121 was built around Gary Sales’ one over for 35 points and backed by the 31 of Ricky delos Santos, 28 of Gerald Katigbak and 27 of Michael Mendoza.
Forest Hills, on the other hand, improved to third from fourth after shooting the day’s best 124 on the even-par of Rodolfo Brobio for 36, 31 of Ronnie Littaua, 29 of Rodel Mangulabnan and 28 of Raffy Garcia.
Islander Mizuno slipped to fourth after shooting 116 for a 300 aggregate. It slowed down with a 69 and a three day total of 264 for an 18-point lead in Fil E with a round to go.
Razcals I shot one of the day’s best of 70 for a 246 total to stay at the second spot, while Tieza Club Intramuros Golf Course A made 61 for 234 points, now 12 off Razcals I after opening the third round just three off.
Tieza Club Intramuros Golf Course A got a two-point penalty on a bad day that saw its players total a measly 57 and see its round two lead of 16 now down to a single marker.
Tieza has 190 points, just one-off Macquarie Links Sydney which made 70 for 189.
Macquarie now holds a single point lead on third-ranked Uragun which made 69 and 188 points total, after the two started out the day even. (PNA)
