Davaoeños crowd leaderboard

CEBU, Philippines - Players from Davao seem to have felt very at home at the Cebu Country Club as they filled up the leaderboard at the start of the Aboitiz Invitational 2011 yesterday.

Arnold Villacencio, who is ranked 13th in the order of merit, posted the only round under par yesterday shooting 69 strokes on the shortened course.

Cebu Country Club normally plays as a par-72, but to make the tournament more challenging, organizers converted holes number 7 and 11 into par-4s from par-5.

Teeing off from the back nine, Villacencio was one-over par as after a bogey on the 13th then went back to even with a birdie on the tricky par-4 14th hole. He closed his opening nine with a bogey on the 18th to go one-over-par.

In the front nine, Villacencio closed with birdies on the 8th and 9th to finish at 69 strokes.

His fellow Davaoeño Marvin Dumandan is one stroke behind finishing at even-par 70.

Dumandan told The Freeman that he managed to hit only three greens for the round, but thanked his good touch in putting for seeing him through.

He said that he only made 22 putts for the 18 holes.

Many of the players, however, had a tough time with the greens, which they said were too hard and would not bite.

Four of the five players, who are a stroke further back with 71, are also from Davao. Veterans Edgar Ababa and Cassius Casas are tied with their kababayans Elmer Salvador and defending champion Jay Bayron.

The only non-Davaoeño in the list is Antonio Asistio, who also shot 71 yesterday.

Bayron opened his round with a birdie on the first and an eagle on the second, but found himself back at one-under-par when his tee shot went wayward on the par-3 5th where he finished with a double-bogey.

He found his form with back-to-back birdies on the 6th and 7th to finish his first nine at three-under-par.

Things turned bad on the back nine where he opened with a bogey and strung up four more on the 13th to the 16th hole before scoring a birdie on the 17th that put him at one-over-par.

Randy Garalde, Tommy Mansuwan, Jonathan Moore, and Miguel Tabuena finished three behind the leader at 72.

Nine players finished at three-over-par 73 – Anthony Fernando, Albin Engbino, Raul Miñoza, Matt Docking, Paolo San Gabriel, Michael Bibat, Antonio Lascuña, Rufino Bayron, and Jonnel Ababa.

Among the three Cebuanos in the field, veteran Danny (Cabajar) Zarate had the best score shooting five-over-par 75.

Rookie Charles ‘Chuckie’ Hong, who grew up at the Cebu Country Club, finished at 6-over-par 76.

Hong jokingly told The Freeman that he probably had the biggest gallery among all the players yesterday.

He started as a junior golfer in the club and rose to become the only player to have been both junior club and club champion on the same year.

Now at 23 years old, he said that he is hoping to make the cut on in this event. He said that of the seven tournaments he has joined on his first year a pro, he made the cut only twice.

Of the 103 players, who teed off yesterday, four retired due to injuries.

The tournament has Aboitiz Equity Ventures and title sponsor and is presented by International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI).

After today’s second round, only the top 50 players, including ties, will make the cut. - THE FREEMAN