CCC zooms to 10-pt lead behind young parbusters

DAVAO CITY — Cebu Country Club (CCC) again leaned on the hot performance of its young guns yesterday, posting a second round best 134 points to erect a 10-point lead in the premier Championship division of the 65th Philippine Airlines (PAL) Men’s Interclub Golf Tournament at the Apo Golf and Country Club, here.

Down by one after the opening round last Wednesday, the CCC golfers anchored their scintillating second round blast on two golfing prodigies, 17-year old Lloyd Jefferson Go and 15-year old Gen Nagai.

Go, an awardee in the upcoming Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) All-Cebu Sports Awards, shot an even par 72 good for 36 points while Nagai, the team’s first day high scorer with a 34, added 35 markers. Gio Gandionco had 33 points while Mark Dy and Eric Deen each finished with 30 points. Deen’s score eventually did not count.

Reigning champions Del Monte, which shot 124 for a 247 is in second place while Alabang, the first-day leader, fell to third with 228 after shooting just 104 points yesterday.

Former national champion, Clyde Mondilla, also scored 36 points for Del Monte, Lawrence Cubillo and Noel Langamin each had 31 while Magno Arancon Jr. added 26.

No Cebuano team has ever won the centerpiece Championship division in the 65-year history of the PAL Interclub.

CCC has collected seven titles in the Founders division, but is only making an appearance in the Championship class for the second straight year. The Cebuanos made a splash in the early rounds last year in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon only to fold up in the final round to finish second to Del Monte.

INJURED FINGER

Making Go’s performance remarkable was the fact that he did it with an injured left middle finger which he accidentally jammed against the car’s door late Wednesday evening. In spite of the accident, the student from Center for International Education had four birdies – on the 7th, 9th, 16th and 18th.

“I was really worried at first as I had a four-over after the first six holes. But I relaxed and my game eventually came,” said Go after his round.

Nagai on the other hand, was cold-blooded on the greens where he sank five birdies on the 1st, 3rd, 13th, 15th and 17th.

“Everybody really gave me confidence. They told me not to get mad especially when I had pick-ups. During the first round, I had two pick-ups in the first four holes but I stayed cool,” Nagai narrated.

Team skipper Montito Garcia said he was disappointed with the team’s opening day performance.

“Gahapon gi-plano na namo to put the strongest lineup during the second day in order to pull away. I was disappointed with the first day performance since I believed that we could’ve played much better, said the veteran golfer.

In today’s third round at the Ranchos Palos Verdes, CCC will field Neri, Marko Sarmiento, Carl Almario, Bayani Garcia and Montito Garcia.

In the Founders division, Alta Vista shot 92 points yesterday and tumbled to 12th place. Alta Vista had 104 in the first round but found the Apo course a tough nut to crack. Scoring for Alta Vista were Gabriel Yap (25), Dennis Canoy (23), Enrico Solon and Emir Abutasil (22).

Riviera and Apo tied for first place with 229 points.

In the Sportswriters division, Mactan shot 93 points for 180 while Club Filipino scored 72 for 142. Mactan was led by the 28 of Hong Kil Seo, the 24 of Mario Cugtas, the 22 of Jufil Sato and Dong Dimatatac’s 19.

Scoring for Club Filipino were Razie Razon (24), Raymund Garcia (18), Peter Militante (15) and Jiji Gullas (15).