Miñoza 5 strokes adrift in Myanmar

Frankie Minoza matched par 72 at the Yangon Golf Club and stood five strokes off Korean ace Mo Joong-kyung at the start of the $200,000 Myanmar Open in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday.

That even-par effort put the ace Filipino shotmaker in joint 25th place with 14 others although he hopes to score much lower in the second round Friday in a bid to advance to the final two rounds and boost his chance for a first victory in three years.

Rick Gibson, the amiable Manila-based Canadian gearing up for his defense of the Philippine Open crown on Feb. 26-29 in Riviera, opened his bid with a solid 68 as he shared second place with South African Craig Kamps and Alistair Presnell of Australia.

Six players, led by Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng and Thongchai Jaidee, were in fifth place with three-under 69s in this event which drew no less than 29 tour winners, including defending champion Lin Kengchi of Taiwan and last season’s winners Marcus Both, Mike Cunning and Lin Wenko.

Danny Zarate, the only other Filipino seeing action in this event which stakes $32,200 to the winner, limped with a four-over par 76 and is in danger of missing the cut at 83rd.

The 44-year-old Miñoza, a six-time winner in Japan, is hoping to shake off early season rust and challenge for the title as he did in 1999 when he finished tied second. His last tournament success was at the 2001 Fuji Sankei Classic in Japan.