S’woods 11 up in PAL Interclub

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Three-peat-seeking Manila Southwoods put on a strong start and stormed to an 11-point lead against Canlubang in the opener of the 70th Philippine Airlines Interclub Men’s Championship yesterday.

With teeners Carl Corpus, Jets Sajulga and Kristoffer Arevalo and seasoned Jun-jun Plana producing solid rounds at Apo’s tree-lined layout, Southwoods pooled a 136 to steer clear of Cangolf’s 125.

Corpus, 14, led the Carmona-based squad’s charge with 35 points, equivalent to one-over par 73 in stroke play, while Sajulga, 15, and Plana, 49, submitted 34 markers apiece and Arevalo, 17, added a 33.

“I targeted six over for the day but I’m happy with eight-over given the conditions at Apo,” Southwoods captain Thirdy Escano said.

“The key in this course is to put my mature five (players) because you’ll need patience here if you run into bogeys in the first holes,” he added.

Tom Kim’s 28 didn’t count for Southwoods, which refused to get carried away with the fine start.

“This is just the first round. We need to continue playing well,” said Escano, who still has Yuto Katsuragawa, Aidric Chan, Ira Alido, Liam Cully and Jama Reyes at his disposal for the next three rounds.

Interclub debutant Jolo Magcalayo, 14, fired an even par 72 for 36 points to banner Canlubang, which also drew 34 points from Luis Miguel Castro,  29 from Jakey Yulo and a 26 from Jan Philippe De Claro.

“We folded up in the last three holes when it started raining (late in the afternoon); Jakey and Fern (Zaldarriaga, who didn’t count with his 24) had pick-ups,” said Canlubang owner and men’s team manager Luigi Yulo.

The Sugar Barons are hopeful they can gain ground today when hostilities shift to the wide and well-manicured course of Rancho Palos Verdes for the second round.

“Pwede pa rin. We might pick up something tomorrow (today). In the first place, we weren’t really expected to win this. If we pick up anything tomorrow, we have something to think about,” said Yulo.

Luisita was a far third with a 115-point aggregate built around Josh Jorge’s 32, Don Petil’s 29 and the 27s of Jingy Tuason and Luis Miguel Guerrero.

Four points behind Luisita was Del Monte (111), which was led by Noel Langamin (32) and Mellurence Cubillo (31).

The 70th PAL Interclub Platinum sponsors are Mareco Broadcasting Network, A&E Networks Asia, RMN Networks, The Manila Standard, Fox Networks Group, Rolls-Royce, TV5, MasterCard, TFC and Business Mirror.