PHL golfers remain in the hunt for podium finish

GUANGZHOU, China – The men and lady golfers remained at second and sixth spots respectively at the midway point of the 16th Asian Games golf competitions held at the Dragon Lake Golf Club Thursday. Miguel Tabuena, who seems very much at home on Dragon Lake's wide fairways, once again starred for the Nationals with a four-under-par 68. Jerson Balasabas (74) and Marcel Puyat (75) contributed to the country's 217 haul and 435 aggregate. The South Koreans are way ahead in the standings with a 14-under 418. Kim Meen-whee matched Tabuena's 68 while Lee Kyoung-hoon and Lee Jaehyeok turned in 70s for a 208 total. India continues to surprise the field as they trail the Philippines by one stroke, thanks to the 68 of Khan Rashid, the 70 of Lahan Abhinay and the 71 of Chadha Anhijt, whose score was disqualified in the opening round. In the ladies side, Mia Piccio (74) and Chihiro Ikeda (75) combined for 149 to give the team a 36-hole total of 306. Third member Dottie Ardina managed a 76 but it didn't count under the three-to-play, two-to-count format. Defending champion Korea is still in command with a 141-285. China, which has the course knowledge advantage, was second with 148-290. Chinese Taipei (145-293), Japan (149-298), and Thailand (147-299) are in the Top 5. Piccio and Ikeda each had a good first nine and appeared to have settled down after a disappointing opening day. But luck was not on their side at the turn. The US-based Piccio made birdies on the third and eighth to sandwich a bogey on the fourth. However, her bogeys on Nos. 12, 16 and 17 pulled her down to 74. Ikeda, meanwhile, birdied the ninth, which she hoped would inspire her for the back side. That, too, didn't happen as she bogeyed the 10th, 13th, 15th and 17th. "We have to cut down the lead to a comfortable level so we can make a charge in the final round. If we can bring it down to something like three or four, that would be a great motivator," said national coach Bong Lopez. – Adrian Flores/JVP/KY, GMANews.TV