Miñoza recalls form, leads by one by one shot

Not even a wobbly windup could shake Frankie Miñoza off his cherished spot.

Thanks to a near-flawless frontside stint, Miñoza overcame a three-shot deficit and surged ahead by one with a second straight five-under par 67 yesterday, toppling two-day leader Liang Wen-chong in the third round of the Philippine Open at Wack Wack’s east course.

With a 207 aggregate, Miñoza moved 18 holes away from ending foreigners’ domination of the country’s premier golf championship the last four years with the ace Filipino shotmaker trying to nail down his second Open title nine years after he won it for the first time in 1998 at the Riviera.

But the reticent Miñoza refused to be overwhelmed by his highly-anticipated surge that had the big gallery erupting on every birdie hit, saying his title chances remain too tough to call.

"We have a chance tomorrow (today)," said Miñoza in Filipino. "But Liang is a very good player. May palo."

The Chinese ace also showed character, bucking a disastrous double-bogey mishap on the par-3 No. 7 which Miñoza birdied for the crucial three-shot swing that enabled the Filipino bet to seize control. But China’s top player refused to be intimidated by the local favorite’s charge one flight ahead, battling from as many as three strokes down to within one.

Liang settled for a 71 at the end of a punishing day. His 208 aggregate kept him within sight of Miñoza, who threatened to pull away after sitting on a three-shot cushion on No. 10 only to reel back with bogeys on Nos. 11 and 17.

As the chasing pack faded one after the other with atrocious scores in windy condition, Miñoza and Liang set up an interesting duel between a teacher and a student for the top $47,550 purse staked in this $300,000 event sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. and the First Gentleman Foundation.

Both players, however, have high regards for each other although they agreed that the wind would be a big factor in their pursuit for glory.

"Wack Wack is a different thing in the presence of the wind," said Miñoza, who is expected to lean on his experience and solid shotmaking to put away the challenge of the 28-year-old Liang.

"It will be very interesting. Frankie’s good. In fact, he always teaches me every time we play in a practice round in Japan," said Liang, who will be trying to become the fifth foreign player to win Asia’s oldest golfing event after Canadian Rick Gibson in 2002, American Edward Michaels in 2004, Aussie Adam Le Vesconte in 2005 and Scott Strange, also of Australia, last year. There was no RP Open in 2003.

"But I will try my best," said Liang, who was very much in the lead despite Miñoza’s surge in the early going until an errant tee shot on No. 7 missed the target. He needed two chip shots to get into the green then two-putted for that 5.

At the turn, Miñoza and Liang virtually reduced the fight for the crown into a two-man affair but both sputtered at the backside of the par-72 layout, enabling two players previously outside of the top 10 to get a crack at the championship although by a long shot.

Thai Prayad Marksaeng, winner of five Asian Tour titles, including the 2000 Casino Filipino Open, eagled the par-5 14th and went on to fire a 69 to jump from joint 16th to solo third with a 212.