BAGUIO CITY — The big dog came out and produced the first sub-par round in the 72nd Fil-Am Men’s Invitational at Camp John Hay Golf Club Wednesday.
Defending champion Manila Southwoods got off to a hot start and produced a four-under 148 points, virtually reducing the Fil-Championship division into a battle for second place.
Gab Manotoc and Carl Corpus led the Southwoods’ onslaught with 39 points apiece while Korean Jae Hyun Jung and Aidric Chan added 37 and 33 points, respectively.
Kristoffer Arevalo did not count with 29 points.
Manotoc used his driver only twice, but set up the eagle with a hybrid on the short par-4 12th, his tee shot stopping eight feet off the cup. He also had five birdies against four bogeys. Corpus, on the other hand, started with six pars before catching fire with five birdies in a row. He picked up on the third hole and made one birdie against a bogey the rest of the way.
Jae reached the turn on two-under following birdies on 10 and 17, picked up on 2 before mixing three birdies with two bogeys.
Chan made four birdies but was saddled by five bogeys and a pickup.
“The boys played what was expected of them. They need no motivation. They knew they were the team to beat and showed why,” Southwoods said sports director Jerome Delariarte.
Southwoods opened a huge 19-point lead over Forest Hills Team 1 which was led by Rocky Co who delivered 39 points. Other scorers Edison Tabalin 32, Rodel Mangulabnan 30 and Augusto Pacheco 28.
Eight shots behind Forest Hills was Januarius Golf Team 1 which posted 121 behind Terence Macatangay 35, Ronald Lachica 33, Raymund Sangil 31 and RJ Lizada 22.
In Am-Championship, Manila Southwoods Team 2 also built a 17-point lead over Royal Northwoods after pooling 120 points.
Lanz Uy led scoring with 34 followed by Shinichi Suzuki 32, Masaichi Otake 28 and Josh Jorge 26.
Northwoods, made up of top junior golfers, collected 103 points from TJ Padilla (28), Zach Villaroman (28), Patrick Gene Tambalque 26 and Santino Pineda 21.
In third place was Riviera-Batangas Barakos which totaled 95 behind top scorer Erik Escalona who fired 28 points.
Meanwhile, Camp John Hay Golf Club Team 1 seized the lead in the Fil-A class after assembling 111 points for 228.
George Punasan fired 33 points to lead CJH 1.
Uragun 1 was second with 219 after turning in 105 points while Summit Point Team 1 sat in third with 212 following 109 points.
Meanwhile, overnight leader Greenwater Golfers slumped to last place after showing up with only three players.
Tommy Manotoc, who shot 30 points in the first round, did not play as well as teammate Jimmy Ignacio.
Over at Baguio Country Club, Time Cargo Logistics Team 2, led by Joseph Tambunting’s 26 points, surged to a 14-point lead over Forest Hills Team 2.
Time Cargo pooled 92 to bring its total to 182 points while Forest Hills assembled a second-straight 84 points behind Raymond Bunquin’s 29 points.
E-Sparta dropped to third with 164 after posting 74 points.
