All over but shouting as Go now 12 up

LJ Go has a virtual lock on the title. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BAGUIO—It’s going to be one tight battle in the final round. For second place, that is.

LJ Go cracked par for the third straight day, shooting a two-under-par 70 to open up a 12-shot lead for the ICTSI Pinewoods Challenge title that plays its final 18 on Friday where eight players are within six shots of each other now reduced to looking for the top consolation prize.

“I will play it the way I played the first three rounds,” Gol told the Inquirer as he takes a 195 aggregate into the final round, with Jeff Lumbo, who submitted a 73, trailing by a dozen shots and the fast-charging Clyde Mondilla lurking four shots back after a 69.

Go’s lead is the largest anyone will be taking into a final round in the long history of the Philippine Golf Tour, and the 31-year-old is in great position towards erasing the nine-shot win of Reymon Jaraula over Rupert Zaragosa at Del Monte last October for the most lopsided victory.

“I’ve never had a lead as big as this,” Go went on after dropping three shots in his front nine before shooting all six of his birdies coming home. “I will just try to do what I have been doing right so far.”

After opening with a 67 to trail by just three after the first round, Lumbo again had an up-and-down 37-36 effort and gave out a smile when asked if the 12-shot deficit is still manageable.

“It might not be anymore,” Lumbo told the Inquirer in Filipino. “But I will still come out (for the final round) giving it all that I have. Fight until the final putt is holed.”

Mondilla had seven birdies that went with a double bogey and two bogeys, a marked improvement from the second round 79 that effectively took him out of the title fight on Wednesday.

He is just four shots behind Lumbo, with the pint-sized Rupert Zaragosa another stroke back after shooting a 72 like Fidel Concepcion, who is giving chase another shot behind together with four others counting Antonio Lascuña.

Lascuña finally broke par, shooting a 70 as the 6,000-yard layout continued to bedevil the talented field.