BACOLOD – Grinding it out a little better on a day of soaring scores, Canlubang on Saturday gutted out a third round 140 points to get back on top of the heap in the centerpiece Championship Division play of the PAL Seniors Interclub.
There was no one from the talented field that came close to matching par at tree-lined Binitin in Murcia town as rookie Pem Rosal fired a six-over 76 worth 48 points to lead the Sugar Barons to a 54-hole 433 aggregate and a seven-shot lead over defending champion Luisita.
Abe Avena accounted for 47 and Mari Hechanova counted with 45 as Cangolf swiftly regained the lead it lost after the second round when its counterparts from Luisita struggled all round.
Raffy Garcia’s 45 was enough to lead Luisita’s 131 total for the day as the Tarlac-based squad limped to a 426 total and would need all of its guns to hit their mark in the final round Sunday at the tough-as-nails Marapara to avert a Canlubang party.
“We just played a tad better,” Cangolf mainstay Rolly Viray, who will come out in the final round, told the Inquirer. “A seven-point lead is not a safe lead, but it’s a good lead to take into the final round, especially in a course like Marapara.”
Benjie Sumulong struggled to post 44 points and Chito Laureta chipped in with 42 for Luisita, which discarded the surprisingly paltry 39-point output of the usually reliable Edmund Yee.
Abe Rosal has automatically been disqualified from repeating as individual champion by playing at Marapara again, but the former banker and swing coach will be gunning to spearhead the Barons in the final 18 holes as their anchor.
Former pro Eddie Bagtas, on the other hand, comes out again for the Luisitans, who have reserved Rodel Mangulabnan and Jingy Tuason for the final day as back-ups to Bagtas.
“We have no excuses, we played really bad,” said Luisita non-playing captain Jeric Hechanova. “Fortunately, there’s one more round to be played and I feel we have a stronger lineup for the final round.”
Damasus Wong will likely make the difference in this two-cornered race with Rosal and Bagtas expected to cancel each other out.
Wong, a businessman, was the top scorer for Cangolf with 51 in the opening round on Thursday with 51 points, and coming up with something similar or better would definitely give the Barons a boost and negate an expected bounce back by Mangulabnan.