Ababa pads lead

I hit it most to the left with my driver but made up for the struggle with good iron play and putting

JHONNEL Ababa fires another 67 to hike his lead to 4.

Davao’s Jhonnel Ababa doubled up his overnight two-stroke lead with a third straight 67, but the vaunted Del Monte boys launched their fiery, albeit late charge in another day of torrid scoring in the third round of the ICTSI Del Monte Championship in Bukidnon yesterday.

Ababa bucked a wobbly stint on the mound with superb iron game and solid putting, overcoming a bogey mishap on No. 5 with a cluster of birdies, including four in the last eight holes for a 35-32 card that hiked his 36-hole lead of two over Zanieboy Gialon to four heading to the final 18 holes of the P2.5 million championship serving as the seventh leg of the 10th season of the Philippine Golf Tour.

“I hit it most to the left with my driver but made up for the struggle with good iron play and putting,” said Ababa, whose third straight five-under card gave him a 54-hole total of 15-under 201 and closer to a first PGT crown since ruling the rain-shortened Cebu stop of last year’s circuit sponsored by ICTSI.

But Clyde Mondilla and Reymon Jaraula, two of the best players to emerge from talent-rich host province after the eminent Frankie Miñoza, put on a pair of low rounds to move into contention after straying off the leaderboard in the first two days with mediocre games.

Mondilla broke a birdie-par-bogey start with four straight birdies to close out his frontside stint then kept his birdie-binge going by sinking putts inside seven feet to add three more at the back for a 65, thus catching Gialon, who carded a 69, at second at 205.

“I struggled on the greens in the first two days but finally I got my touch back,” said the long-hitting Mondilla, who joined the elite roster of Philippine Open winners by humbling a stellar international field in severe conditions at The Country Club last April.

“Actually, I have the edge here. I just need short irons for my second shots. I’m very familiar with the course, I know where to land my shots to get good birdie chances.”

Jaraula also pressed his bid for back-to-back title run following a breakthrough at Pueblo de Oro last weekend as he sizzled with an eagle-spiked, bogey-free, tournament-best eight-under 64.