Southwoods hot on Fil-Am lead

BAGUIO CITY — Manila Southwoods starts to heat up, slicing down the lead of Luisita after the second round of the 74th Januarius Fil-Am Invitational on Sunday at the short and tricky Baguio Country Club (BCC) layout.

Manila Southwoods came out firing, posting 105 points to make up for its lethargic 97-point performance in the first round of this prestigious inter-club tournament last Sunday at the same venue.

Raul Miñoza fired 30 points while Junjun Plana, Theody Pascual, and Judd Roy chipped in 26, 25 and 24 points, respectively, to hike Southwoods’ production to 202 halfway into the premier championship division.

Luisita, for its part, registered 104 points anchored on the 30 points of Abe Rosal, 29 points of Benjie Sumulong, 25 points of Chino Raymundo, and 20 points of Ferdie Barbosa in the five-to-play, four-to-count format.

“We survived another tough day at BCC. Fortunately, we are still up by four points going to the last two days,” said Luisita’s non-playing captain Jeric Hechanova, whose wards are on their toes despite enjoying a four-point lead over their bitter rivals.

But Southwoods skipper Freddie Mendoza said they are plotting a strong rally in the last two rounds as the event shifts to Camp John Hay.

“The game plan is a one-on-one approach. If we can get strokes, especially in the last three flights, so much the better. If we can do that, we would probably be up by two or three points,” Mendoza also said.

In the Am Championship, Manila Southwoods Team-2 (123-227), showed a depth of talents as three players scored 30 points or more to wrest the lead over Srixon-IMG (108-226).

Joseph Tambunting carded a two-over 71 worth 34 points. Other scorers for Southwoods were Monet Garcia (33), Ryan Abdon (30) and Thirdy Escaño (26).

As the competition shifts to BCC, Mendoza stressed: “We will just have to play our regular games. BCC is tough and we need to come up with as good scores as possible.”

Demy Saclot turned in another 32 to spearhead Srixon-IMG. He was backed up by August Cruz (28), Roger Telan (25) and Steve McDonald (23).

Two points down further was Greenwater Seniors (112-224).

Championship Scores:

FIL — Luisita 206 (102-104), Manila Southwoods Team-1 202 (97-105), Riviera 191 (96-95), Forest Hills Nicklaus 189 (91-98), Summit Point 161 (74-87).

AM — Manila Southwoods Team-2 227 (104-123), Srixon-IMG 226 (118-108), Greenwater Seniors 224 (112-112), Baguio Blue Bloods 200 (99-101), Leeward Fil Am Golf Club 156 (73-83).