Filipinos back bounce back, stay in contention

Jet Hernandez and Shinichi Suzuki combined for a six-under-par 138 in the third round on Thursday and put Team Philippines right within title contention in the 31st Nomura Cup team golf championship in Beijing where Hong Kong-China held ground and kept the lead.

The national Strokeplay and Match Play champions back home, respectively, Hernandez and Suzuki churned out the second-best effort on a demanding day at Bayhood 9 Golf Club as the Filipinos chopped down what stood as a 10-shot deficit at the start of the day to half to be in position to win the event for the first time.

"We put ourselves in a great spot to have a chance to win this thing," the 21-year-old Hernandez, drained six birdies in shooting a four-under-par 68, said as the Filipinos take a 426 aggregate into the final 18 holes.

"The game plan will stay the same for us," he went on.

"And that is to do whatever it takes to shoot the lowest score possible."

Suzuki, meanwhile, birdied three of his last six holes and carved out a 70 as the duo made up for the struggles that Rolando Bregente had in returning a 78.

“I hit it really well out there," the 18-year-old Suzuki said.

"My round was basically like that of (Wednesday) but I just couldn't get some of my putts to drop. Then came a really terrible double bogey on N0. 10 for me. We pretty much struggled on that hole all week.”

"But it definitely was our day today," he added. "We were able to improve by eight shots (from the second round) and cut our deficit in half. It will definitely be an exciting final round tomorrow."

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