by Waylon Galvez
STA. ROSA, LAGUNA – After a bogey-free opening round, Tawit Polthai of Thailand struggled with a four-over par 76 in the second round but kept the clubhouse lead while Juvic Pagunsan virtual shot himself in the foot with an 86 in the 101st Solaire Philippine Open at The Country Club yesterday here.
Polthai’s flawless opening round saw him gun down an eagle and three birdies for a 67, but the beautiful course reared its ugly head and punished almost everybody, Polthai included.
Starting at the back nine, Polthai made two bogeys on his first two holes – 10 and 11. Though he birdied on 14, he bogeyed two of the next four holes, which dropped him at two-under.
Polthai’s struggles continued on the front nine even after he birdied the first hole.
Bogeys on 2, 4, 6 and 7 had him at one-over, but recovered when he birdied the remaining two holes, on 8 and 9 that have him a two-day total of 143 in this event organized by the Pilipinas Golf Tour (PGT) Asia.
“I struggled with my shots, I think lost my control of my game,” said Polthai, who will turn 26 today. “From putting… to my (fairway) shots, I didn’t do well, I had too many bogeys.”
“But overall, I’m still happy. I just hope to recover the next day. It was a tough second round, but I hope to get my game back, continue to take it hole by hole, and shot by shot,” he added.
Three players were three shots off the leader, including local bet Keanu Jahns who matched his first round 73 for a total of 146. He is tied so far with Nirun Sae Ueng of Thailand who also had a 73, while Peter Stojanovski of Macedonia had a 74 after a 72 opening round.
The projected cut is 12-over going to the final two rounds, with Pagunsan, the former Asia’s No. 1 player, already out of it.
Unable to shake off the shock of shooting a 77 in the opening round, the 40-year-old Pagunsan virtually cancelled himself with an 86 – no thanks to an 11 on the par-5 10th hole with three OB or beyond the boundaries of the course on his first first hole.
