Bunyi, Mendoza lead after first round

GINO BUNYI and Marvin Mendoza scored a four-over 72 to take a one-shot lead over the pair of Ricky delos Santos and Ricky Velasco in the first round of the NGAP National Doubles Amateur Championships at the AFP Golf Club yesterday.

Bunyi and Mendoza birdied the last hole to make up for a double-bogey mishap on No. 16 and save a 37-35 card as they held off the rallying Delos Santos-Velasco pair for the early lead in the 54-hole tournament conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

De los Santos and Velasco rebounded from an opening 40 with a 33 to salvage a 73 while three teams, including the Jobim Carlos-Raymundo Gonzales tandem, stood at 74 heading to today’s four-ball (best-ball) format.

Carlos and Gonzales never recovered from a bogey-double bogey start and hobbled with a 39-35 card although they remained in contention in the centerpiece Group I division along with the Joey Huerva-Lawrence Celestino and the Eric Gallardo-JP De Claro pairs at 74.

Aristeo Mata and Agustin Mata holed out with a 37 for a 76 as they tied the John Tambogon-Rudy Amata tandem at sixth while Tommy Manotoc and RJ Talud strung up nines of 38-39 for a three-way tie with Gabriel Manotoc-Art Arbole and Rupert Zaragosa-Justin Quilban tandems in the tournament backed by Golf Depot, Callaway, Odyssey, Pacsports, Autohub, Empire Golf and Titleist.

In Group II, Larry Patnongon and Joey Solis carded a 74 to likewise post a one-stroke lead over Lans Uy and Paolo Uy while Justin Tan and RJ Tan stood five shots off the pace with a 79.

Sam Martinez and Chanelle Avaricio, on the other hand, turned in a 77 to gain a three-shot lead over Bianca Pagdanganan and Pauline del Rosario in the ladies side of the event featuring members of the national pool and the top campaigners from the country’s leading clubs.  /Correspondent Jonas Panerio