Promising Cebuano golfer Lloyd Jefferson Go remained in the hunt for a berth in the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) as he shot a 77 at the start of the PGT Qualifying School yesterday at the Splendido Taal Golf Club in Tagaytay.
Go, one of the pillars of the Cebu Country Club squad that captured their second straight title in the Championship division of the 66th Philippine Airlines Interclub last weekend, had trouble with the gusty playing conditions but remained on course in his bid to join the PGT.
“It’s really windy here, might be the windiest I have ever played,” said Go of his stint, where he started on the back nine.
After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the top 60, including foreign entries, with the top 30 and 10 foreign bets after four rounds gaining cards for the 2013 ICTSI-PGT circuit.
The qualifiers will join the top 40 players from last year’s Order of Merit ranking in this year’s circuit beginning with the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic on March 20 at Sherwood Hills.
Dutch golfer Guido Van der Valk paced the field with a 72 for a two-shot lead over Dino Villanueva. Van der Valk, a veteran local campaigner, went three over after 10 holes but birdied the par-5 11th and closed out with a birdie-par-birdie stint to save a 38-34 card for the provisional lead.
Villanueva turned in a 74 to lead the morning group with Raul Minoza, Jet Mathay and Belem Alarcon matching that two-over output in the afternoon flight. Korean Hong Soon Hyup and Japanese Toru Nakajima each had a 75 to likewise stay in early contention for berths in the Tour proper.
Tying Go with identical scores of 77 were Johvanie Abaño, last year’s winner of the Q-School, Park Jun Song, Rene Menor, Freddie Balisaga and Lawrence Celestino.