Team Philippines played its best in the 31st Nomura Cup on Thursday, and from almost being written off after a cold second round, the gritty Filipinos will head into the final day with a solid shot at winning Asia-Pacific’s team championship for the first time.
‘We put ourselves in a great spot to have a chance to win this event, but we have to stay present all throughout tomorrow,’ Jet Hernandez said after shooting a four-under-par 68 at Bayhood No. 9 Golf Club in Beijing for a 138, second-best for the third round.
That fueled the Philippines’ 426 aggregate, which is now just five shots behind leader Hong Kong-China.
‘Whatever happens tomorrow, happens; we just have to give it our all and win in the [aspects we can control],’ he added after shooting six birdies.
Shinichi Suzuki assembled a 70 as the Filipinos moved to within three shots of Japan, which is running second, just two shots off the Hong Kong-Chinese.
‘It definitely was our day today; we were able to improve eight shots from yesterday and cut Hong Kong’s lead to half,’ Suzuki said. ‘It will definitely be an exciting final round tomorrow, our mindset is to make sure to stick to our game plan, give our 100 percent best.’
Rolando Bregente, who jumpstarted the Philippines campaign on opening day with a 69, stumbled to a 78 and failed to count.
The Filipinos started the day 10 shots off Hong Kong and looked to be out of it before Hernandez and Suzuki wheeled the country back in the thick of things even with the duo leaving some strokes out on the course.
‘I had a terrible double bogey on the 10th,’ said the 6-foot-3 Suzuki, who responded from the miscue with three birdies in his last six holes. ‘That has been a difficult hole for us [as a team].’
Hernandez, the National Strokeplay champion back home, had six birdies in the third round after ‘doing a better job at being instinctive out there.’
‘The game plan will stay the same for us,’ Hernandez added. ‘For us to just do whatever it takes for us to shoot the lowest score possible.’
Jeffrey Shen and Markus Zachary Lam fired 70s for Hong Kong-China’s third round 140 for 421 overall, now just two shots ahead of traditional power Japan, which got a 68 from Kaito Sato and a 71 from Mao Matsuyama for 139 and 423.