BAGUIO CITY — Luisita came through with a better team score in the second round at the short and tricky Baguio Country Club layout but still saw its lead sliced down by Manila Southwoods as the rivalry continued in the 74th Januarius Fil Am Invitational.

After a 102 in the first round, Luisita put in a 104 anchored on the 30 of Abe Rosal, who once again led the defending champ’s balanced scoring. Benjie Sumulong supported with 29, Chino Raymundo contributed 25 and Ferdie Barbosa added 20 in the five-to-play, four-to-count format.

Manila Southwoods charged 105 points this time, a far cry from the 97 it posted in its first day. Raul Miñoza paced with 30 followed by Jun Jun Plana’s 26, Theody Pascual’s 25 and Judd Roy’s 24 that hiked their output to 202 halfway through in the premier championship division.

“We survived another tough day at BCC. Fortunately, we are still up by four points going to the last two days,” said Jeric Hechanova, Luisita’s non-playing captain.

Southwoods’ performance was okay with skipper Freddie Mendoza. But for the last two days at Camp John Hay, he said that the team will have a different approach.

“The game plan is a one-on-one approach. If we can get strokes, especially in the last three flights, so much the better. If we can do that, we would probably be up by two or three points,” Mendoza also said.

In the Am Championship, Manila Southwoods Team-2 (123-227), showed a depth of talents as three players scored 30 points or more to wrest the lead over Srixon-IMG (108-226).

Joseph Tambunting carded a two-over 71 worth 34 points. Other scorers for Southwoods were Monet Garcia (33), Ryan Abdon (30) and Thirdy Escaño (26).

As the competition shifts to BCC, Mendoza stressed: “We will just have to play our regular games. BCC is tough and we need to come up with as good scores as possible.

Demy Saclot turned in another 32 to spearhead Srixon-IMG. He was backed up by August Cruz (28), Roger Telan (25) and Steve McDonald (23).

Two points down further was Greenwater Seniors (112-224).

Championship Scores:

FIL – Luisita 206 (102-104), Manila Southwoods Team-1 202 (97-105), Riviera 191 (96-95), Forest Hills Nicklaus 189 (91-98), Summit Point 161 (74-87)

AM – Manila Southwoods Team-2 227 (104-123), Srixon-IMG 226 (118-108), Greenwater Seniors 224 (112-112), Baguio Blue Bloods 200 (99-101), Leeward Fil Am Golf Club 156 (73-83)