Mardan Mamat, Prom Meesawat fire 70s in roaring winds, lead by 1

STA. ROSA, LAGUNA, Philippines — Former champion Mardan Mamat of Singapore and Thai Prom Meesawat played steadier than the field under grueling conditions to share the lead at 70s after the opening round of the rich Solaire Philippine Open yesterday at the wind-swept The Country Club here.

Mamat, the 2012 winner at Wack Wack, anchored his bid for a second crown in Asia’s first National Open with birdies on TCC’s tough backside par-3s, logging a two-under par 70 that was matched by Meesawat on a day only four managed to break par over the exacting Tom Weiskoph-designed course.

The Singaporean ace offset  opening bogey with a birdie No. 7, then racked up birdies on Nos. 11, 14 and 17 to wrest control at three-under. But he struggled against the wind on the closing par-4 hole, opting to hit it low but snapping it a little bit to the left. He made a bad chip and muffed a 30-foot putt for par.

“I was very fortunate to play under par in this golf course, it’s not easy out there, I got a lucky break in some of the holes and made a couple of putts,” said Mamat.

He used a 3-wood on the 276-yard No. 11 and banged in an 11-foot putt. But he missed grabbing the solo lead with a closing bogey after missing the green and a bad chip, enabling Meesawat, who had two victories in Asia, including a playoff win over Miguel Tabuena in 2016 in Taiwan, to gain a share of the lead in the record $600,000 event presented by Solaire Resort and Casino.

“In this course, you don’t know what’s gonna happen. Hopefully, I can keep myself patient the next three days,” said Mamat. “It’s really not easy with the wind and some of the hole locations aren’t easy.”

Meesawat made it look easy with a three-birdie string from No. 8 but he bogeyed the long par-3 11th before closing out with a run of pars to put himself in early contention for the top $108,000 purse in the 72-hole championship organized by the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. 

Defending champion Steve Lewton of England and Kim Tae Hoon of Korea submitted the day’s only other sub-par cards of 71s to stay one shot behind the joint leaders while Jay Bayron and five others turned in even par 72s.

“The front nine was a little bit scrappy but I scored really well, back nine, I played best and scored worse,” said Lewton, who started at three-under 33 but limped with two bogeys going back.

The competitors expect the same conditions in today’s Day Two, with the winds tipped to pick up by the afternoon the way it did in the opening round of the 72-hole championship co-sanctioned by One Asia and the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

“In this course you just try to hit as many greens as possible and that’s all I try to do. Some of the times, I’m not even going for the pins, just middle of green. I can make par and par is a good score on this course so I think that’s all I’m gonna try to do the rest of the week again,” said Lewton.

Jay Bayron thought he had all figured out the course with a three-under card after eight holes, sparking hopes for a big start for a local player who missed the Open title by one in 2011 at Wack Wack. But he bogeyed the long par-4 No. 9 and though he recovered the stroke with a birdie on the par-5 10th, the veteran Davaoeño campaigner reeled back with three straight bogeys from No. 11 then traded two birdies with the same number of bogeys in the last five holes to finish with a 72.