Van der Valk ties Rates on last-hole swing

JOENARD Rates might need some help from above as he sets out for a final round shootout with Guido van der Valk in the ICTSI Villamor Philippine Masters.

Guido van der Valk turned what he deemed was a flawed chip shot into a resounding birdie feat at the finish, saving a 75 and catching Joenard Rates at the helm after three rounds of mental play in the ICTSI Villamor Philippine Masters at the Villamor Golf Club yesterday.

Head bowed, Van der Valk dropped both arms to his knees in frustration after chipping way past the hole on the par-5 No. 18 but the Dutchman returned a clutch 10-footer for birdie to seize a share of the lead as Rates fumbled with his par-putt bid from shorter distance for a 77 marred by a double bogey on No. 17.

On a day when the chief contenders battled tough pin placements and tricky surface and ended up with soaring scores, van der Valk tied Rates at 212 and Marvin Dumandan put himself in title contention in a long while after squeezing out a 73 to join Jhonnel Ababa, who carded a 74, at 214.

Fidel Concepcion fired one of the day’s three best scores of 70 to move to joint fifth at 216 with Gerald Rosales and Reymon Jaraula, who matched par72s, and Keanu Jahns, who drew level with Rates with a solid frontside 33 but fell with a thud with an uncharacteristic backside 45 for a 78.

After birdying No. 9 from long range to tie the two-day leader, the Fil-German went wild on his driving and tee-shots, limping with a triple-bogey 7 on No. 10, bogeying Nos. 12 and 16, yielding two strokes on the par-3 17th, and holing out with another double-bogey on the closing par-5 hole.

But four strokes behind, Jahns re- mained in the hunt for a Philippine Golf Tour breakthrough although he will need a lot of work off the mound to revive his title hopes in the P2.5 million championship put up by ICTSI. While Jahns struggled with his long game, van der Valk found the greens a lot tougher, flubbing par putts on Nos. 4, 5 and 7 to fall four strokes off Rates, who traded two birdies against the same number of bogeys for a 36, at the turn.

“I struggled with the speed of the greens today, I don’t know why,” said van der Valk, who bounced back from a rare missed cut stint at Luisita with a clear title shot in the very same PH Masters tournament he yielded to Jerson Balasabas in sudden death in 2018. “But definitely tomorrow (today), I have the chance to win because I wasted too many shots (yesterday).”

After yielding just three bogeys in the petition are the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie that it develops among the region’s youths of different faiths and persuasions in life. Some sports platforms have even hosted healthy competition between erstwhile adversary groups: local units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Ebrahim said part of the region’s educational fund builds a fruitful collaboration with the Cotabato State University in upgrading its learning and sports facilities.

Iqbal said the upgrading of the CSU facilities is covered by a Memorandum of Agreement between the MBHTE and the state university.

An unconfirmed report said sepak takraw (sepak takraw), is included in the array of BARMAA sports events. Sepaktakraw, also called kick volleyball, is a team sport played with a ball made of rattan or synthetic plastic between two teams of two.

“Maraming puwedeng magkaqualify sa surfing, and besides, he is busy with his job as a doctor,” said Tolentino.

The 2023 World Beach Games is set from Aug. 5 to 12 in Bali.

Gomez is reviewing the number of submitted entries, including those who have won 58 gold medals and 85 silvers in the recent 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The list includes Tokyo Olympic veterans Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting and boxer Eumir Marcial, along with tennis star Alex Eala, athletes in softball, baseball, rugby, squash and archery.

When Gomez was the CDM in 2018, the Philippines secured four golds, 2 silvers and 15 bronze medals.

“We aim to duplicate or even surpass the performance of the last Asian Games,” said Gomez.

Canlas said two long board specialists Jay-R Esquivel and Aping Agudo, have intially qualified for the World Beach Games. And he is expecting six more to make it.

THE national congress and election of members of the board of trustees of the Philippine Swimming Inc. has been moved back by a week to June 8.

Originally scheduled for June 15, the World Aquatics-ordered exercise will be attended by regional representatives and nominees of the PSI starting at 11 a.m. at the East Ocea Palace Restaurant in Parañaque City.

The new schedule of the congress and election was agreed upon during Thursday’s hybrid meeting among regional representatives of the federation, according to Atty. Wharton Chan.

“The regional representatives agreed to move the exercise to an earlier date—and it will be doe face-toface,” said Wharton, a member of the Philippine Olympic Committee-designated electoral committee chaired by POC secretary-general Atty. Edwin Gastanes with Atty. Avelino Sumagui and Atty. Marcus Antonius Andaya as the other members.

More than 300 clubs or groups registered as PSI members with 100 of them joining Thursday’s meeting, according to Chan. He expects more to attend the June 8 exercise.

To be elected are 10 members of the board of trustees based on geographical sector plus one member from among the representatives of diving, open water swimming, water polo and synchronized (artistic) swimming for a total of 11 trustees.

The geographical sector covers two each from the Area 1 (National Capital Region), Area 2 (Regions 1, 2, 3 and Cordillera Autonomous Region), Area 3 (Regions 4-A, 4-B and 5), Area 4 (Regions 6, 7 and 8) and Area 5 (Regions 9, 10, 11, 12, CARAGA Region and Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao).