BUKIDNON – Clyde Mondilla found the putting touch he flaunted in the first round but lost in the next, firing an eagle-spiked 65 in overcast skies for a one-shot lead after the third round of the ICTSI Del Monte Championship on Thursday.
Despite a solid frontside that featured a birdie and an eagle, Mondilla still scrambled as he missed short birdie putts in the first three holes and three-putted from 10 feet on No. 10 to typify his struggle on a surface he’s so familiar with.
Mondilla finds stroke
But things turned around after he dropped a three-foot birdie putt on No. 13 as he picked up another stroke on a two-putt birdie on the next then drilled three more inside six feet that moved the multi-titled campaigner on the threshold of back-to-back championships on the Philippine Golf Tour.
His 33-32 card gave him a 54-hole total of 15-under 201.
“I didn’t expect to be on top again, just tried to put myself into good position but got my confidence back (in putting) in the last 9 holes,” said the runaway winner at Forest Hills last June who drove past halfway point leader Justin Quiban and erstwhile joint second-running Reymon Jaraula and Jhonnel Ababa to zero in on the top P437,000 purse in the P2.5 million championship put up by ICTSI.
Jaraula stayed where he stood at after 36 holes, pressing his own title drive following a big win at Valley, also last June, with a bogey-free 67, capped by birdies in the last two holes as he assembled a 202 to seal a final round duel of homegrown bets.
Quiban snapped a two-birdie, two-bogey card after 12 holes with an eagle and two birdies against one more birdie for a 69 and a 203, setting the stage for a three-man shootout in the last 18 holes of the eighth leg of the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.-organized circuit supported by PGTI official apparel Kampfortis Golf.
“Just made too many bogeys, missed a lot of greens and couldn’t commit to my shots,” said Quiban, who took command with two straight 67s and highlighted his third round stretch-run fightback with an eagle on No. 14.
The rest will need to go low to muddle up the title race as Ababa, winner here in 2019, slipped to fourth at 206 after a 71, while Rupert Zaragosa also turned in a one-under card for fifth at 208. Ferdie Aunzo grabbed solo sixth at 210 after a 69.
Elmer Salvador fired a solid eagle-aided 67 to tie Zanieboy Gialon, who carded a 70, at seventh with 211s while young Sean Ramos shot a 68 to catch Tony Lascuña and Dino Villanueva, who matched 70s, and Nilo Salahog, who put in a second straight 73, at ninth with 212s.
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