Back-to-back birdies from No. 14 highlighted the 24-year-old Delariarte’s windup as he saved a round of 36-36 for a one-shot lead over veteran Tommy Manotoc as soaring scores marred the opening round of the six-day championship with majority of the competing field struggling at the par-71 layout which proved to be as tough as it can be.
For one, Juvic Pagunsan, the player touted to foil Delariarte’s title-retention bid, shot himself in the foot with a 79 for a share of 18th to 31st places, needing to come up with a respectable round today to make it to the top 32 and into the tournament proper.
Artemio Murakami, who stunned a star-studded field to become the youngest national champion at age 15 at Wack Wack in 1999, also had an eight-over card (42-37), still grieving on the death of his father but what ruined his day was the six strokes he dropped on his way home at the frontside.
Delariarte, who outlasted now-Asian PGA Tour campaigner Angelo Que in a gruelling 36-hole finale to win last year’s edition of this annual event at the Dye course of Eagle Ridge, also in Cavite, had three birdies on a hot but windy day, the first on the par-5 No. 10 that negated his opening hole bogey. But he bogeyed Nos. 11 and 12 and dropped another stroke on No. 14 before coming up with that back-to-back birdies that shoved him past Manotoc.
The spearhead of many Canlubang bids in the PAL Interclub put three birdies with three bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 9 as he carded a two-over par 73 in what could be his strongest start in the event sponsored by DHL, the Philippine Golf Foundation, WWWExpress and DHL Worldwide.
Jaye Escuadro took solo third with 73 while Dave Hernandez stood at 75 in the company of Raymund Sangil. Lyndon Barril shot a 76 while eight players were at 78, including Marvin Dumandan, JR Tanpico and Gene Bondoc.
The other 79 scorers included Tonton Asistio, Jose Mari Hechanova, Juami Rocha and Hanson So, while Abe Rosal, who ran away with the DHL Open title in Canlubang in February, was far behind at 81.
The aspirants resume their hunt for the top 32 berths today in the final 18 holes of the stroke-play eliminations with the match play event to start tomorrow until Sunday, where the finalists will slug it out for this year’s crown in a marathon 36-hole duel.