Concepcion closer to ending long title wait
Fidel Concepcion was the only player to crack par on a demanding and humid Thursday, with his one-under-par 71 moving him ever so close to a breakthrough PGT win after taking a three-shot lead in the P3.5 million ICTSI Apo Golf Classic in Davao.
“I’ll have a chance (on Friday) to do something I have never done before,” Concepcion, whose family migrated to Australia when he was young, said, referring to finishing the job and crowning himself champ. “It’s a pretty good opportunity to keep proving to myself that eventually, it will happen.”
With a 54-hole 212 aggregate, Concepcion held off two feared sons of Davao who know the tree-lined layout like the back of their hands, veterans Elmer Salvador and Antonio Lascuña, who carved out 73s to be one and two shots behind, respectively.
“There’s a lot more pressure coming from myself than from handling the locals,” Concepcion added. “But as long as I can manage that internal pressure, I should be okay.”
James Ryan Lam, seeking a first win since 2018, returned a 75 to be tied with Lascuña, even as defending champion Jonel Ababa skied to an uncharacteristic 79 to bow out of the title chase, now being 12 shots behind from four at the start of the day.
Elee Bisera and Zanie Boy Gialon, also products of the Apo program, are five shots behind, like South Korean Jae Hyun-jung, after shooting 74s. Jung matched par.
