Tabuena, 2 foreigners set pace.
CANLUBANG, Laguna – Miguel Tabuena carded a two-under par 70 and took the clubhouse lead along with two other players at the start of the Solaire Philippine Open yesterday at The Country Club (TCC).
Tabuena, one of the favorites after winning the Razon Cupon on the same course three weeks ago, had three birdies against one bogey although he felt he could have made a few more birdies at the back nine which he parred all the way.
“I couldn’t make my putts in the back nine,” said Tabuena, the 22-year-old golfer who competed in last year’s Rio Olympics.
Tabuena made birdies on the third, fourth and eighth holes but bogeyed the ninth after he missed the green and failed to go up and down.
His longest par putt was a 15-footer on the fourth which attested to his accurate iron shots.
Joel Altea, Tabuena’s swing coach, said that there were several makeable putts that Tabuena missed. Still, he said, it was still a very satisfying round as Tabuena is tied for the clubhouse lead although at late afternoon, American Will Cannon was at three-under with still four holes left in his round.
“Sana easily three or four under pa sya. Maganda pa naman ang palo,” said Alta. “Pero at least nanjan (on top of the leaderboard), mas mahirap naman e iyung nag-hahabol ka.”
The weather condition was good, with the strong winds that usually make the course tougher than it is, not making its presence felt.
In the TCC’s first tournament since the course was renovated and closed or two years, Tabuena won the Razon Cup with a score of 13-over 301.
Tabuena is still officially the defending Philippine Open champion although he won in 2015 when it was played at the Luisita Golf Course in Tarlac. There was no Open last year due to financial constraints. This year, the total purse of the event backed by Solaire Resort and supported by Meralco and PLDT, is $400,000 (P20 million).
Tied for the clubhouse lead with Tabuena were Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-Tang and England’s Steve Lewton.