Aidric Chan went on a birdie-binge at the finish and came away with a superb six-under 66 to zero in on one of the coveted berths in the national men’s team vying in the Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting on Nov. 30-Dec. 10.
Chan birdied four of the last five holes, sparked by three-straight feat from No. 14, in a scorching finish that highlighted the start of the last of the two-stage 2019 SEA Games men’s team qualifier at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac yesterday.
After topping Stage I with a two-under 286 last week for a three-stroke lead over three rivals, the Ateneo student now has a 352 aggregate and padded his lead to a whopping eight-stroke margin over Carl Corpus, who carded a 71 for 360.
Gab Manotoc also fired a one-under card to move from fifth to third at 361 with three rounds left in the grueling elims that will select the three players who will banner the Phl team’s campaign in the biennial games, also to be played at the Robert Trent Jones, Sr.-designed layout.
Luis Castro and Sean Ramos, tied with Corpus at second after the first phase, floundered with 73 and 75 and slipped to fourth and fifth at 362 and 364, respectively, with the rest of the 13 survivors still lagged behind to pose a threat for the leading contenders in the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines, sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, the PLDT Group, Cignal and Metro Pacific and hosted by Luisita.
Edward Dy matched par 72 for a 368, Paolo Wong hobbled with a 73 for a 370 and Kristoffer Arevalo fumbled with a 75 for a 371 followed by Ivan Monsalve (75-372), Lanz Uy (75-374), Alexander Bisera (77-374), Ryan Monsalve (73-376) and Rolando Bregente (78-381).
Corpus actually pulled to within one with a birdie on No. 1 which Chan bogeyed but the former bogeyed the third and parred the rest for a 36 and the latter recovered and birdied two of the last three holes at the front for a 36 and hiked his lead to four.
The reigning national junior sustained his charge and birdied the 10th then came through with that sizzling windup with birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 before closing out with another feat to virtually go unassailably ahead.
Corpus also birdied the last hole to turn in a 36-35 card and hold off Manotoc, who gunned down a birdie at the front then mixed two birdies against the same number of bogeys in the last nine holes to stay in the hunt for one of the Phl team slots.
Castro also closed out within one off Chan with a fiery 33 but bogeyed the 10th and dropped two strokes on the next to limp with a 40 and 73 while Ramos failed to rebound from a 39 start with a two-birdie, two-bogey stint at the back for that 75.
