BY WAYLON GALVEZ
STA. ROSA, Laguna – Guido Van Der Valk of the Netherlands kept his two-shot lead over Clyde Mondilla despite struggling with a three-over par 75 in the third round of The Country Club Invitational Friday at the TCC here.
The Dutchman started ominously as he bogeyed the opening hole on another punishing day that saw Mondilla, the reigning Philippine Open champion, also submit a 73.
Though the Dutch recovered with an eagle on the 8th, Van Der Valk practically threw away whatever momentum he gained when he bogeyed the next hole.
He dropped three more shots as he bogeyed the 11th, 14th and 18th holes to finish with a three-day aggregate of 220.
Good thing though, his rivals failed in their bids to rally – all bedeviled by the tough pin placements and ultra-fast greens.
Still, the Dutchman remained on course to winning the top prize of P1.5 million in the event held in honor of Don Pocholo Razon – father of ICTSI Chairman Ricky Razon.
“I made a few, couple of mistakes. You can make mistakes on this golf course, because the golf course is hard enough. So you got to make bogeys,” said Van Der Valk.
“I missed so many birdie putts. But then again Clyde and Tony (Lascuna) made the same things. It was hard with the wind blowing right straight, and then having to read the lines.”
Mondilla mixed his round with birdies on 1, 8 and 10, and bogeys on 2, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 18 – which matched his six during the opening round of the event.
Five shots off the leader is Jay Bayron followed by Lascuna and former amateur stalwart Rupert Zaragosa with 225 and 226, respectively.
Keanu Jahns is at solo seventh with a 228, Jhonnel Ababa, Michael Bibat and Reymon Jaraula share eighth to 11th places with Spain’s Marcos Pastor all with 229.
