By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Miguel Tabuena powered his way with a sensational 7-under-par 65 spiked by a hole-in-one and an eagle in a span of three holes to trail leader Sarit Suwannarut by four strokes halfway through the International Series Philippines at the Sta. Elena Golf Club in Laguna on Friday, Oct. 24.
The three-time Asian Tour champion capitalized on an early tee time to navigate the course before the afternoon heat and wind intensified, opening his round with a birdie on his first hole on No. 10 before blasting an ace on the 171-yard 14th hole using an 8-iron.
He then eagled the par-5 16th before gunning down three more birdies against a bogey on his way to a two-round total of 134 after a first-round 69.
“It’s not everyday I make a hole-in-one, but I was glad I kept it together,” said Tabuena. “It’s been six years since my last one and only second in the competition, so it was nice that it was here in front of friends, family and my home club.”
Suwannarut, however, remained solid and held on to his lead by firing a 66 for 130.
The Thai ace, who led the opening round with a 64, held his ground in the afternoon session and posted seven birdies against a lone bogey on the par-3 seventh to tighten his grip for the lead.
Tied with Tabuena was Kazuki Higa, who shot a 69 on five birdies against two bogeys.
Only two other Filipinos made the cut along with Tabuena with Angelo Que flashing his vintage form with an impressive 65 for 135 and Justin Quiban carding an eagle-aided 68 for 138.
“I think I hit solidly today. Mentally, I was very prepared on what to do and what to hit,” said Que, who drained five birdies on his first 12 holes, faltered with a bogey on the 13th, before bouncing back with three more birdies on the last four holes.
“It didn’t seem like I shot 7-under. I was just hitting fairways, hitting the greens, hitting the putts… not until I got to the last few holes did I say, ‘Oh, I’m pretty low today.’ But I’m very happy that I was able to play well today,” he added.
Yosuke Asaji was also not far behind with a 66 for 135, joining Soomin Lee, Matthew Cheung and Wang Wei-hsuan, who had identical 67s.
Patrick Reed fired a similar 66 for 136 to join Denzel Ieremia (67) and Gaganjeet Bhullar (69) with 136.
English veteran Steve Lewton posted the day’s best so far with a sizzling bogey-free 63 that consisted of nine birdies to bounce back from an opening 74 for 137. He joins Kosuke Hamamoto (67), Sampsong Zheng (66), Jazz Janewattananond (69), Dean Burmester (70), Danthai Boonma (67) and Charl Schwartzel (66).
Crowd favorite and former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who was in the flight with Tabuena, stumbled with a 73 — no thanks to a double bogey on the eighth and two bogeys against three birdies. He tallied a 140 after a first-round 67.
Despite his current position, Tabuena said he couldn’t afford to be complacent
“There’s still a lot of golf. You can’t get ahead of yourself. There’s two more days to go. I just have to stick to the game plan and my recovery. It’s getting steamy out there, so I have to take care of the body first,” Tabuena said.
Sean Ramos missed the cut by just one stroke despite a 68 for 142.
Other Filipino bets who failed to make it to weekend battle were Keanu Jahns (72-144), Carl Jano Corpus (73-145), Clyde Mondilla (77-146), Aidric Chan (72-147), Enrico Gallardo (76-149), Rupert Zaragosa (75-149), and amateur Perry Bucay (77-154).
