TARLAC—Aussie David Gleeson missed setting a new course record at Luisita but achieved grabbing the lead, his seven-under 65 in super hot condition shoving him past a surprisingly tough Erwin Arcillas in the third round of the $100,000 ICTSI Luisita Championship here yesterday.
A three-putt miscue on the challenging No. 17, caused by his haste to escape the debilitating heat, marred an otherwise solid round that featured four birdies at the front and four in the first four holes at the back. But the 65 proved enough to move the Brisbane native 18 holes away from ending a long title spell.
“It was so hot, I just wanted to take cover from the heat,” said Gleeson, member of the winning team in the World Amateurs at Southwoods in 1996, who despite the late slip still jumped from joint sixth to solo lead at 11-under 205.
But just a stroke behind is Arcillas, the unfancied but gutsy Filipino shotmaker who continued to defy the odds to gain a crack at a breakthrough victory in the kickoff leg of the second Philippine Golf Tour Asia put up by ICTSI.
But Gleeson said he thrives under pressure and the 40-year-old expects to wrap it all up today and nail his first win since winning the Indian Open in 2011.
“I play with my boundaries, I focused on every hole and I don’t relax because there’s always pressure in me. But that’s my game,” said Gleeson, who hit 10 fairways and 15 greens.
While erstwhile leader Rolando Marabe cracked under pressure and skied to a 77, Arcillas stayed in the hunt for the top $17,500 purse, putting a second 69 in three days on a three birdie-binge from No. 3 to pool a 206 in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.
“I told myself to focus on my game and not mind the game of my rivals. It helped and though I continued to struggle with my long game, my irons, wedge shots and putting clicked,” said Arcillas, whose best finish was fourth at PGT Mt. Malarayat leg in 2005.
But if there’s one player worth watching in the final round, it would be Thai Varantu Rattanaphilboonkil, who turned in a third straight 69 to join the championship flight at 207, just two strokes off Gleeson.
Another Thai, Tawit Polthai, also matched the course mark of 65, a bogey-free 33-32 that put him in joint fourth with Jhonnel Ababa at 209.
Ababa, winner of back-to-back PGTA legs at Eagle Ridge and Pradera Verde early in the year, rammed in seven birdies but made a bogey and a double-bogey for a 68 in another day of low scoring with 28 players breaking par.
“The course remains tough but the field now features strong players, so scoring has been pretty good,” said Luisita GCC official Jeric Hechanova.
The rest could be too far behind to pose a threat although no lead is safe at Luisita where challenges and hazards abound, not to mention the weather condition that has taken its toll on the surviving field, particularly the foreign players.
After a 67 and 69 to grab the lead, Marabe hit two birdies but fumbled with six bogeys and holed out with a double-bogey for that 77, tumbling to joint 13th with Thai Itthipat Buranatanyarat (71), Ton Lascuña (68) and Pitipat Pitimana-aree (69) at 213.
Thai Sorachut Hansapiban shot a 66 to tie Finland’s Teemu Putkonen, who matched par 72, at 210 while Poosit Supupramai of Thailand and Peter Stojanovski assembled 211s after a 70 and 72, respectively.
Keanu Jahns, who with Gleeson also shot 65s in last year’s Luisita Championship, carded a 68 to joint American John Michael O’Toole, who also made a 68, and Thai Sattaya Supupramai (70) at 10th at 212 in the event backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, Champion, Summit Mineral Water, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT and M.Y. Shokai Technology, Inc.