Manotoc paces Open qualifier

Tommy Manotoc fired a five-over-par 77 yesterday at Villamor to lead the field in the battle for 10 slots staked in the Casino Filipino 87th Philippine Open.

Manotoc, a many—time low medalist of the RP Open, went out with a 38 before coming home with a 39 to lead fellow amateurs Solomon Gines (78) and Jun Bernis (78) going to today’s final 18 holes.

Lyndon Barril, another amateur, was at 80 after a fat 42 coming home and then Japanese Toyoda Kunihiro was the best-placed pro at 81 in a tie with Ronnie Torrecampo, another amateur.

Dave Hernandez had a front-nine 38 but struggled coming home with a 44 for 82, the same output of Bernard Villa and Korean Seong Ki Lee.

The top 10 finishers after today will advance to the Philippine Open on March 7-10 at Wack Wack.

A Pro-Am on March 6 will precede the tournament bankrolled principally by Pagcor through Casino Filipino and main presentor San Miguel Beer.

Mitsubishi is the official car of the event, now a part of the Davidoff Tour of the Asian PGA.