Golf: Clyde Mondilla’s 70 cuts Guido Van Der Valk’s lead in TCC

By Waylon Galvez

STA. ROSA, Laguna – Philippine Open champion Clyde Mondilla got himself into contention with a two-under par 70 to keep pace with leader Guido Van Der Valk of The Netherlands in the second round of The Country Club (TCC) Invitational Thursday at the TCC here.

Van Der Valk, the 40-year-old Dutch, now based in Cebu, carded a 74 for a two-day total of 145, two strokes ahead of Mondilla, who has 147 in the event that serves as the first tournament for the 2020 Philippine Golf Tour season.

He birdied on 4, 7, 8 and 11, but had bogeys on 5, 9, 14, 15, 16 and 18. Van Der Valk almost eagled on 4, and sank a tough 20-footer on 7 that highlighted his round.

“It was a good start, I was two-under through 13, but I made mistakes on the last few holes, which were just really hard holes. But one-over after two days is happy enough,” said Van Der Valk.

Mondilla, who won on this same course last year with his first Open championship, drained birdies at 2, 4, 10, 12 and 14. On 10, he was putting eagle from 12 feet, missed but settled with a birdie.

However, he mixed his round with bogeys on 5, 11 and 13, where Mondilla’s tee shot missed the fairway and went to the bunker. Putting from 25 feet, his shot went outside the green and needed two putts to finish.

Nevertheless, the native of Bukidnon said he is satisfied with his performance especially now that he is only behind by two shots.

“Lahat ng palo ko OK, yung sa putting ko lang hindi masyado pumapasok. Tinatamaan ko lahat ng greens. Sa first round mas maganda pa nga putting ko kesa ngayon,” said Mondilla.

“Kaya stick to the plan pa din ako, ingat ingat na lang lalo sa holes 2, 3 and 4. Dito naman kasi sa TCC crucial yung second, until the final day. Kasi maski leader ka yung last three or two holes madami pwede mangyari. Kailangan focus talaga,” added the 26-year-old golfer.

Former TCC champion Tony Lascuna, Jay Bayron and Ropert Zaragosa all had similar scores of 73 to share third to fifth places for 148, followed by Ira Christian Alido – the youngest in the tournament at 18 – and Albin Engino at 150.

Jhonel Ababa, Michael Bibat and Reymon Jaraula are tied for eighth to 10th places at 151.

Source: Manila Bulletin