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CARMONA, Cavite: Sixteen-year-old John Kier Abdon hit
3-under-69 Thursday to keep a three-stroke lead in the 6th Asean
Schools Golf Championship at the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country
Club here.
Abdon, who fired a sizzling
six-under 66 in the opening day, finished with four birdies and
a bogey to remain on top of the leaderboard with a two-day aggregate
of 135, just three strokes ahead over closest pursuer Nocholas Funf
Chee Yung of Malaysia.
“Today I had many careless
mistakes because of the heat. It disturbed my focus dahil rin sa
mabagal ang flight namin kaya kailangang mabilis ang kilos ko,”
said Abdon, a fourth-year high-school student in San Beda High
School in Alabang.
Day 2 actually belonged to Joey
Huerva IV of Bacolod City, who had the best scored of the day of
four-under 68 for a total of 143, just enough to move him to solo
third from joint 13th the other day.
“I was so tensed in the opening
day that forced me to commit several errors. But today I was more
relax and play my usual game and I did much better. I hope, I can
sustain this kind of condition,” said Huerva, who had a dismal
three-over 75 on the first day.
With Abdon keeping the top
position, the 17-year-old Hureva, a fourth-year high-school student
of St. John Institute of Bacolod City, expressed confidence the RP
junior golfers could bring home the individual title of the
six-nation tournament won by a Thai last year.
“With the two of us already in
the top three. I think we have strong chances of winning the
individual honor,” added Huerva, who placed 20th in the Optimist
Juniors tourney in Florida, USA, in 2001.
Huerva’s second day’s best
score and Abdon’s consistency improved the country’s position in
team competition to fourth spot with a five-man aggregate of 596,
though still far behind leader and defending champion Thailand,
which had 582 and Singapore with 585, and Malaysia’s 587.
The country’s girls team was
not that fortunate Wednesday as it dropped to fifth from third on
Tuesday with 462.
--Frank Calapre
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