Bad day for Frankie, Joy

Frankie Miñoza failed to keep the momentum of his solid back-to-back 69s as he slowed down with a 72 yesterday and dropped five strokes off Hidemichi Tanaka with one round left in the Tsuruya Open in Kawanishi, Japan.

Miñoza, whose 36-hole aggregate of 138 kept him in the thick of the fight for top honors in this $952,000 event, the third leg of the Japan PGA Tour, slid to 210, five shots behind Tanaka, who took a two-shot lead heading into the final round after a 69 and a 205.

With Miñoza dropping to joint eighth with Yoshinori Mizumaki (70) and Tsukasa Watanabe, Nobuhito Sato assumed the challenger's role by firing the day's best score of 66 for a 207.

Three players, led by Masayuki Kawamura (69) stood at 208, while Australian Richard Blackwell shot a 71 to gain a share of sixth place with Katsunori Kuwabara, who also carded a 71.

Minoza is priming up for next week's Kirin Open where he will be joined in by another Filipino shotmaker, Cassius Casas, who gained a sponsorship exemption to compete in the rich event.

Casas, now trying to maintain his competitive form following the scrapping of the Philip Morris Golf Classic series, once regarded as the country's national golf circuit, will be seeking another crack at the Japanese circuit after a failed bid last year, and at the US PGA Tour this October.