By Waylon Galvez
STA. ROSA, Laguna – Thailand’s Prom Meesawat benefited from a two-stroke penalty slapped on Filipino Miguel Tabuena due to rule infraction and kept his one-shot lead over the former Philippine Open champion going into the final 18 holes of the 100th edition of the Solaire-backed tournament yesterday at The Country Club here.
For the first time, the Thai played badly, shooting a 74 for a three-day aggregate of 217 in the event that offers $108,000 to the winner from a record $600,000 total pot – the richest so far in the oldest Open championship in Asia.
The story of the day, however, was Tabuena’s infraction on the 11th apparently for accidentally hitting a leaf on the bunker.
If not for that penalty, the 2015 PH Open winner would have been up by one stroke after a 71. But to due to rule infraction, he settled for a 73.
David Parkin, the tournament director, said that it was American Nicolas Paez who made the protest.
“Whether or not Miguel caught a leaf on his backswing and he’s in the bunker, hits leaf and it’s a two-shot penalty under Rule 13 4C,” said Parkin.
“His fellow competitor Nicolas Paez said he did. Miguel initially said on the course, he wasn’t sure, he felt he didn’t hit it but the proximity of the leaf was very, very close. We felt that he had touched the leaf and then we penalized him under Rule 13 4C on 11th,” added Parkin.
