MANILA, 26 May 2006 — A charm the first time around.
Playing his first tournament on Philippine soil, Aussie Scott Strange had little difficulty standing out after shooting a four-under-par 68 yesterday to take the first round lead in the 90th Philippine Open at Wack Wack’s dreaded East course.
The 29-year-old chalked up six birdies against two bogeys, masterfully avoiding the troubles that the age-old, tree-lined layout posed, for a one-stroke lead over former winner Chang Ting-yeh of Taiwan and three others.
Cookie La’O, an unheralded long-hitter, was the unlikely top local man on a day of benign conditions after an eagle-aided 70 left him tied for sixth spot.
Angelo Que, the winner of the Carlsberg Masters Vietnam in 2004, and Artemio Murakami both signed for 71s to be in a six-man logjam at 11th spot even as Mars Pucay and local favorite Juvic Pagunsan turned in different versions of 72s to be in 17th spot.
Pagunsan had a real shaky start, double bogeying his first hole — the 10th — to fall to 3-over in his first five holes. He returned a 33 on his back nine, though, and put himself in the mix with plenty of golf left in the $200,000 event.
It was calm all day, though the course played quite long because of damp fairways that had the field playing preferred lie rules, and a total of 16 players cracked par and eight more matched 72 in what could go down as one of the lowest scoring rounds of the Open in recent past.
Defending champion Adam Le Vesconte struggled, though, managing only a 74 to be in a huge group at 46th place where 1991 champion, Filipino Robert Pactolerin, is also bunched.
“I kept the ball in play for most of the round,” said Strange, whose career earnings the last two years was a modest $175,906.
Strange’s breakthrough victory in the Asian Tour came last year in Myanmar, where he won its national championship at the Yengon Golf Club, a layout which has basically the same make as Wack Wack.
The carabao grass fairways and slow greens did not hamper Strange’s play all day and they actually helped boost his confidence of finally scoring that second win after that Myanmar conquest.
“I am very pleased with my start,” La’O, who nailed a 20-foot putt on No. 4 for eagle, said. “I was just very consistent, hitting my drives well and hitting greens. I wasn’t overly aggressive on the putts.”
The only blemish in Cookie’s round came on the ninth, the East’s old No. 18, where he hit his approach short of the green before narrowly missing an eight foot putt for par.
But it was Que who was actually playing great — in his first 12 holes at least — before he made a mess of his final six by dropping a total of four strokes in his last six holes.
The 28-year-old, a member of the RP Team that placed third in the World Amateurs in Southwoods in 1999, threw away a 5-under card with his sputtering finish, which he blamed mostly on his driver that went wild in that stretch.
“That’s golf. Sometimes you’re hitting it good before it suddenly abandons you,” Que told Arab News.
Murakami, meanwhile, also had his misadventures, dropping a total of four strokes in the closing holes of each nine, including a double on No. 9. He was also going great guns with a total of five birdies, one made from as far as 30 feet out on the short 12th hole.
The 28-year-old Pagunsan, seeking to remain perfect in his home soil as a pro, is being fancied here because of his impressive win in The Country Club Invitational over no less than Frankie Minoza.
“I hit every club well, except my driver,” Pagunsan told Arab News in Filipino. “I was hitting it close to the pins and that gives me something good to look forward to. I just need to play it smarter (in the second round) to be able to make the cut and contend in the weekend.”
Scotland’s Barry Hume (34-35), Australian Simon Nash (34-35) and another Taiwanese, Wei Lan-Lu (33-36) were the others in second place together with Yeh, the winner at Southwoods in 1993, who turned in a 33-36.
Marvin Dumandan and Gene Bondoc, members of the RP pool both, led the race for low amateur honors after shooting 73s to be 21-man tie at 25th spot along with countrymen Richard Sinfuego, 2000 winner and last year’s second placer, Gerald Rosales and veteran Danny Zarate.
