Dutch golfer Guido Van der Valk scored a five-under par 67 yesterday to pad his lead to three strokes over Japanese Toru Nakajima after the second round of the Philippine Golf Tour Qualifying School at the Splendido Taal Golf Club in Tagaytay.
While Van der Valk was on point with his game, Cebuano golfer Lloyd Jefferson Go failed to replicate his first round performance as he missed the cut after shooting a 14-over par 86. Go, a vital cog in the Cebu Country Club squad that won its second straight crown in the 66th Philippine Airlines Interclub last weekend, just could not get going after a 77 on opening day.
Van der Valk, who birdied two of the last three holes Tuesday to card a lead-grabbing 72, rattled off three birdies at the back from where he started then birdied the first three holes at the front to go six-under. But he settled for pars in the next five holes then holed out with his lone bogey mishap for that 67 and a 139.
Nakajima actually bettered Van der Valk’s hot start two flights behind with a 32 and the Japanese bet, who had a 75 in the first round, also birdied the first two holes at the front but stumbled with a bogey on the next to match the leader’s 67 for a 142.
Belem Arancon emerged as the best local player after a 74 but he stood nine strokes behind at 148 in a tie with Japan’s Tomokazu Yoshinaga while Arnel Enema and Dino Villanueva had 149s after a 71 and 75, respectively, and Raul Minoza turned in a 76 for a 150.
Only the top 60 players plus ties after 36 advance to the final two rounds of the 72-hole elims with the top 30 and 10 foreign bets after four rounds gaining cards for the 2013 ICTSI-PGT circuit which starts next week. 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.