DANAO CITY – Guido Van der Valk pounded the Club Filipino de Cebu course for the second straight day and came away with a new course record of six-under 65 to turn a shaky one-stroke edge into a whopping six-shot bulge halfway through the ICTSI Club Filipino de Cebu Invitational here yesterday.
While the rest of the pack could not seem to master the short but tricky par-71 layout softened by overnight rain, the Dutchman kept his romp with another superb all-around game, shooting eight birdies against two bogeys as he bettered his lead-grabbing opening 66 to post a huge lead at 11-under 131.
Jhonnel Ababa, who ruled the rain-shortened inaugurals of this event last year, did card an under-par round in overcast skies but his 69 could only net him a 36-hole aggregate of 137 for second but six shots behind heading to the last 36 holes of the R3 million event sponsored by ICTSI.
“There was nothing special but I’ve got good swing and the ball carried real well,” said Van der Valk, who birdied Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 15 inside 10 feet to negate his bogeys on the two par-3s (Nos. 8 and 11) on his way to posting a new course mark and moving 36 holes from scoring a follow-up to his breakthrough win at Eagle Ridge last year.
Lloyd Go actually looked headed to challenging Van der Valk when he went four-under after 11 holes but the rookie pro drove out-of-bounds twice on the par-4 14th and limped with a quadruple bogey. He, however, birdied two of the last four to submit a second 69 for joint third with Elmer Salvador, who turned in a 70, and Jay Bayron, who matched par 71, at 138.
