Go falls by 6 after 70 in Saudi Open

MANILA, Philippines — Lloyd Go slowed down with a 70 after a 67 and fell by six shots behind new leader Naraajie Ramadhan Putra of Indonesia in the second round of the Saudi Open at the Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia Friday.

After an impressive seven-birdie against two-bogey card in the first round at the long, desert layout, Go settled for a three-birdie, one-bogey round, needing to birdie Nos. 13 and 15 to keep his bid going in the $200,000 championship serving as the third-to-last event on this year’s Asian Development Tour calendar.

But the Cebuano ace’s 137 total kept him six strokes off Ramadhan Putra, who seized command with a 66 for a 131, now two shots clear of erstwhile leader Joshua Grenville-Wood heading to the final round of the 54-hole championship.

Ramadhan Putra sizzled with eight birdies to negate a two-bogey mishap for a six-under card and a big follow-up to his opening 65 as he zeroed in on the crown as Grenville-Wood struggled with a 71 after a scorching 62 to drop to second at 133.

Go, seeking to cap a remarkable ADT campaign with a breakthrough win, birdied the par-5 No. 5 for the second straight day, ending a run of five pars. But he missed a couple of chances while dropping a stroke on the ninth, which he birdied in the first round, before coming through with a couple of superb approach shots for birdies on two of the last six holes.

But six shots behind, the No. 5 in the current ADT Order of Merit ranking, with two runner-up finishes, including a playoff loss in the BRG Open in Vietnam last September, will need to produce a low card to at least improve on his current joint ninth ranking and build some momentum for the ADT next stop in the Aramco Invitational, also a 54-hole tournament, slated at the Rolling Hills Golf Course, also in Saudi Arabia, beginning Wednesday.

The final ADT leg, the US$200,000 Taifong Open, will be held December 22 to 25 in Chinese Taipei.