Blistering start yields 6 leaders

MANILA, Philippines - Six players, led by a Taiwanese, shared the lead at three-under-par 69 while seven others, three of them Filipinos, were just a stroke off the leaders after a swashbuckling start in the ICTSI Philippine Open yesterday at Wack Wack East.

Lu Tze Shyan birdied four in a row after teeing off on No. 10, and came so close to home with a four-under card and the solo lead in the $300,000 leg of the 2012 Asian Tour.

But he couldn’t hold the pressure of having television cameras around him. So, he bogeyed No. 8, his second to the last hole of the day, and settled for a share of the lead.

“I saw the leaderboard that I was leading and I was happy. But I got a bit nervous as well. On the third hole (his 12th), the TV cameras started to follow me,” said Lu.

“This is the first time I’m playing well on the Asian Tour and I wasn’t used to it,” said Lu, nephew of five-time Asian Tour champion Lu Wen-teh, who struggled with an 80.

The younger Lu did so well on this tricky course made even more difficult when it got windy in the afternoon. He had seven birdies against four bogeys.

Lu birdied four straight holes from the 12th to 15th, and looked like he was ready to tear the course apart. But a bogey on the 17th brought him back to reality.

He recovered quickly with three more birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 5, but around those great shots were bogeys on Nos. 3, 6 and 8, a tough par-3 hole.

Providing Lu company on top on a bright and sunny day were Japan’s Azuma Yano, Singapore’s Mardan Mamat and Americans Matthew Rosenfelt, Ben Fox and Anthony Kang.

Next on the leaderboard with 70s were seven players, including local boys Mars Pucay, Frankie Miñoza and Charles Hong, and foreign bets Thanyakon Khrongpha, Atthap Prathummanee, James Byrne and Wade Ormsby.

Six more were just a stroke behind with their 71s. They are former Pinoy child wonder Miguel Tabuena and the seasoned Tony Lascuna, Sam Cyr of the United States, Gi-Whan Kim of Korea, Digvijay Singh of India and Paul Donahoo of Australia.

Just three strokes off the lead at even par entering today’s second round are 13 others, including Pinoys Jhonnel Ababa, Elmer Salvador , the titlist of the 2009 Open confined to locals, and Ferdinand Aunzo.

There’s a mad scramble on top of this Philippine Open, and expect players to make their moves in the second round. With 150 players around, anything near eight-over could make the cut.

Miñoza, the two-time champion and still at it at 52, looked like the Miñoza of old. He had six straight pars then two straight bogeys and a birdie on the front nine.

After a bogey on the 10th, he got going with birdies on the 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th. He putted for birdie on the fringe on his final hole, and his ball lipped the cup.

He could have been up there with the leaders if that putt went in, but Miñoza left the course happy that he’s right there early in the game.

Berry Henson, the defending champion, felt the sting on his injured right toe, and carded a one-over-par 73, actually not a bad score on the challenging course.

Henson, hoping to become the first foreign player in Philippine Open history to win back-to-back titles, is leaving the round behind and hope that things get better.

“There’s a lot of golf left,” said the 32-year-old American who birdied the opening hole and bogeyed the next in his roller-coaster round of four birdies and five bogeys.

After the round, Benson headed to the practice green. Then it’s home to apply some ice on his toe that he stubbed on a bamboo pole while dancing the “tinikling” the other day.

“It was okay in the front nine but it started to hurt on the back. Was ‘tinikling’ a bad idea? No, I had fun. It was my fault. I just made the wrong move,” he said.

Hong, a rookie pro under the tutelage of Roger Retuerto, made heads turn with his two-under. He never won as an amateur, and can’t even remember a good thing before he turned pro.

“I can’t even think of my best finish as an amateur,” said the player now better off as a pro.

First round scores:

69 – Lu, TS (TWN) (36-39), Yano, A. (JPN) (35-34), Rosenfeld, M. (USA) (37-32), Mamat, M. (SIN) (35-34), Kang, A. (USA) (33-36), Fox, B. (USA) (34-35)

70 – Pucay, M. (34-36), Minoza, F. (37-33), Hong, C. (36-34), Khrongpha, T. (THA) (33-37), Prathummanee, A. (THA) (35-35), Byrne. J. (SCO) (36-34), Ormsby, W. (AUS) (35-35)

71 – Tabuena, M. (35-36), Lascuna, T. (35-36), Gi-whan, K. (KOR) (35-36), Cyr, S. (USA) (34-37), Donahoo, P. (AUS) (36-35), Singh, D. (IND) (38-33)

72 – Salvador, E. (35-37), Ababa. J. (36-36), Aunzo, F. (36-36), Beck, D. (AUS) (36-36), Lu, WC (TWN) (39-33), Chuayprakong, T. (THA) (35-37), Sriroj, T. (THA) (35-37), Knutzon, J. (USA) (35-37), Mo, JK (KOR) (39-33), Supupramai, P. (THA) (39-33), Chan, SC (TWN) (38-34), Both, M. (AUS) (36-36), Granberg, J. (FIN) (36-36)