Que storms into lead with eagle-aided 66

Angelo Que, playing as if he were competing in the British Open, put on an amazing show of shotmaking worthy of a stint in the Majors as he scorched Wack Wack’s east layout with an eagle-spiked 66 under sweltering heat to seize a one-stroke edge over two-day leader Kodai Ichihara of Japan in the third round of the Philippine Open yesterday.

Que, enjoying top form after clinching a dream ticket to the British Open in July in the Final Asian qualifying in Sentosa, Singapore recently, came away with a spectacular start to bounce back from eight strokes down, including a birdie-birdie-par-eagle-birdie binge that carried the long-hitting pro past a slew of players from joint 10th and into the top of the leaderboard at 210.

“I’m hitting it good and getting the right yardage. I also got the lucky bounce on the greens so I was able to put the ball closer to the hole,” said Que, eyeing to keep the Philippines’ reign here after Frankie Miñoza scored his second Open crown with a two-shot win over Gerald Rosales last year.

Playing pressure-free in the first two rounds, Ichihara finally felt the weight of towing a field teeming with talents, who pressed him like he never felt before as he cracked under pressure from his pursuers and the demands of the tight, tricky layout. Ichihara fell with a thud with bogeys on Nos. 2 and 5 but showed some kind of resiliency to wheel back into contention with a birdie on No. 14 only to reel back with back-to-back bogeys from No. 15. He finished with a 75 and slid to second with a 211.

“Maybe pressure. First time to play in the final pairing and my tee shots were no good,” said Ichihara on his early foldup marred by errant drives where he hit only three of the 14 fairways.

Gavin Flint hit more than that in the early going and even grabbed the lead with a birdie on No. 7 at 8-under. But the Aussie bet tumbled down just as quickly with four straight bogeys from No. 8, needing to birdie the final hole for the second straight day to salvage a 75 and a 212, two shots adrift.

Tony Lascuna, the best placed Filipino at joint fifth until Que flaunted his fiery form, matched par 72 to tie Korean Nam Young (72) and Mardan Mamat of Singapore (68) in third at 213 while Aussies Mitchell Brown (69) and Ashley Hall (75) stayed within striking distance with 214s.

Swiss Martin Rominger fired a two-under 70 to be at 215 while six shots off at even 216 were Lien Lu-sen of Taiwan (69) and England’s Chris Rodgers (75). Mars Pucay, winner of two legs of the ASEAN Tour last year, was in the thick of the fight with a running five-under card with two holes remaining. But he bogeyed No. 8 and dropped two strokes on the ninth for a 70 as he dropped back to joint 12th with 217 in a tie with Thai Kwanchai Tannin (71) and Aussie Andrew Dodt (71).

Lin Wen-tang, winner of last week’s Asian Tour International in Thailand, also sustained his solid 67 in the second round with a 6-under card after five holes and was looking to crowd the favorites at the end of the day until he made a record 12 on the par-3 17th. He wound up with an 80 and instead tumbled down to joint 26th at 220 in a tie with Artemio Murakami (73) and compatriot Chang Tse-peng (71).

Juvic Pagunsan also failed to make his move with a 73 as he remained stuck in joint 16th with a 218, while Frankie Miñoza shot a 71 for a 219, nine strokes behind Que, whose swashbuckling start cushioned the impact of a faltering finish.

With a one-stroke lead over Ichihara and an expected big local gallery to support him in his quest for the country’s premier golfing championship, Que vowed to stay focused and make the most of birdie opportunities.

“I’m not gonna be too excited about it. I will just try to hit the green and make some putts,” said Que, seeking only his second victory on the tour after ruling the inaugural Vietnam Masters in 2004. Eight down at the start of the day, Que, who also won the Singapore leg of the ASEAN Tour, worked his way up with opening back-to-back birdies but it was his right bunker shot on the par-5 No. 4 for eagle that got his adrenaline pumping.

He raised his hands after the ball bounced once and rolled into the cup for that eagle feat,  added another birdie from four feet on the next hole and knocked in another on No. 8 for a flawless 30 at the front.

After a pair of pars to start his backside stint, Que made two birdies again on Nos. 12 and 13 to seize a two-shot lead Ichihara at 8-under. But just when he everybody thought he was hitting it all right, Que stumbled with a bogey on the 15th then dropped another stroke on the dreaded par-3 17th when he hit his tee shot into one of the bunkers.

“It was a good bogey,” said Que, who will be trying to duplicate Minoza’s feat here last year after the latter took a one-shot lead over Chinese Liang Wen-chong in the final round to win by two over Gerald Rosales.

Despite his poor round, Ichihara remained confident of winning the Open crown on his first try and become only the second Japanese to win in 36 years after Hideo Sugimoto ruled the 1972 edition also here at Wack Wack.

“I’ll just try to keep the ball on the fairway tomorrow and make some putts,” said Ichihara, who will be joined by a host of others in foiling Que’s quest for glory before home fans. Flint is just two back while Mamat, Nam and Lascuna are three behind and the  Aussie pair of Brown and Hall a shot farther back. And with the condition expected to get tougher with the presence of the wind, it remains a wide-open race for the top $47,550 purse in this eighth leg of the Asian Tour.