Puyat makes move as Fernando, Eustaquio falter

Marcel Puyat blew a three-under card on his way out at the front and settled for
a par 71 but stood eight shots off new leader Zhiqun Lam of Singapore halfway
through the Asian Amateur Championship at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in
Saitama, Japan, Friday.
Puyat came out of a par-game at the back with three birdies in the first seven
holes at the front but he fumbled with a bogey on No. 8 then holed out with a
double-bogey on the ninth for a 35-36 round at the par-71 layout.
Still he improved from joint 24th to a share of 18th at 143, counting his first
round output of 72, although the top ICTSI bet lay way behind Lam, who dislodged
erstwhile leader and local bet Yosuke Asahi with a bogey-free 66 for a
five-under 135.

Mhark Fernando and Judson Eustaquio, whose identical one-under 70s Thursday put
them within sight of the leaders, lost their touch with 74 and 78 and tumbled
down the leaderboard at 144 and 148, respectively.
Miguel Tabuena carded a second straight 72 to join Fernando and three others in
23rd place while Jerson Balasabas also made a 72 for a 145 and made the
60-player cut in the event featuring the region’s top amateurs.
But while the five RP bets, whose campaign, is sanctioned by the National Golf
Association of the Phils. and backed by ICTSI and the Philippine Sports
Commission, made it to the weekend play, Jhonnel Ababa missed the cut with a 77
and a 155.
Fernando, the former national champion, hobbled with six bogeys against three
birdies for a 37-36 card while the US-based Eustaquio, the top Filipino finisher
here at 10th last year, made two double-bogeys, four bogeys with only a birdie
to show in a 38-40 round.
Lam rammed in five birdies in a flawless 33-33 card, his 135 total giving him a
one-stroke lead over Asaji, who had a 69 after a 67 for a 136.(pr)