PAL Interclub crown within Del Monte's reach

MANOLO FORTICH, Bukidnon – Del Monte is 18 holes away from erasing the ultimate underdog tag in the 64th Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub regular men's championship. The one-time champion and local favorite unleashed a mighty heave and used all of its home-course familiarity to amass an impressive 138 points in the third round, enough to create a huge 12-point advantage against defending champion Canlubang in the premier division. Del Monte junior golf superstar and reigning national amateur champ Clyde Mondilla played for the first time, since Interclub rules state that a player can only compete in two days. He carried the fight with a one-under-par 71 in stroke play for a total of 37 points in the Molave system. Together with Julius Bautista's 36, Clyde's cousin Mark Mondilla's 33 and the 32 of Magno Arancon, Del Monte now has a 412 total. Canlubang, the six-peat seeking squad from Laguna, tallied a 400 after a 127, not enough to overcome its rival's output at the Del Monte Golf and Country Club. "We needed a game like this to ease off the pressure in the last round tomorrow," said Del Monte playing captain Yoyong Velez. Canlubang is not out of the running yet, but a large deficit is staring the Sugar Barons in the face. Their round was not a good one as the 33 of Joey Huerva was already tops. Gabriel Manotoc and Art Arbole accounted for 32s while Abe Rosale was the last man to count with 30. Dave Hernandez, a member of the senior Sugar Barons who won the seniors crown last week, made a 29, but it did not matter in the five-to-play, four-to-count format. "I'm not giving up on my boys. I believe we can still pull it off," Canlubang skipper Luigi Yulo said. First round leader and darkhorse Cebu Country Club collected 131 points as Gio Gandionco had 36, Lloyd Go made 35, Mark Dy contributed 33 and Chucky Hong added 27. That was not, however, good enough to tie Canlubang at second place. Manila Southwoods, the winner in 2005, lagged behind at fourth with 126-365. – Adrian Flores, JVP, GMA News