Liang surges; Miñoza climbs; Juvic sinks

Chinese ace Liang Wen-chong continued to dish out fine form and shot a three-under par 69, breaking away from a six-way logjam to take a one-stroke lead over Australian Neven Basic and foiling Benjie Magada and Frankie Miñoza’s surge halfway through the Philippine Open at Wack Wack’s east course here yesterday.

Liang, the top player in China who placed joint ninth with Thai Thongchai Jaidee in last week’s Qatar Masters, recovered from a double-bogey mishap on No. 12 that negated his birdie-birdie opening at the backside as he strung up four birdies in a row from No. 13 to anchor his 36-33 card.

Counting his bogey-free 68 in the first round, the 28-year-old Zhongshan native assembled a 36-hole aggregate of 137, seven-under par, and wrested a one-shot lead over Basic, a rookie pro, as three of the erstwhile co-leaders either succumbed to pressure or simply lost their rhythm despite playing under ideal playing conditions.

"I just played my game and stayed focused," said Liang, the lone Chinese bet in the $300,000 tournament offering $47,550 to the winner. "But I’m not thinking of winning it all at this stage and will just take it one step at a time."

As some of the big guns took many steps backwards and missed the cut pegged at 149, including local favorite Juvic Pagunsan, Basic quietly put himself in the title hunt with a 67 fashioned out from a seven birdie-two bogey stint on the par 72 layout.

"I played well and the ball was rolling very nicely for me today, so I’m delighted to be in this position," said Basic, bidding to become the first player to win on the tour right on his first try. He had a 138.

Magada, battling the wind in one of the late afternoon flights, bogeyed the par-3 seventh on his way home and settled for a 68 but the wiry shotmaker from Romblon still emerged the best-placed Filipino at third with a 139 heading into the last 36 holes of this event that saw a host of fancied players miss the cut at 149.

"I putted well and was just lucky to have shot this low," said the 40-year-old Magada, who rattled off seven straight birdies in the final round to post his last victory in 2004 at Eastridge in Binangonan, Rizal.

Miñoza, eyeing no less than the Open crown after a three-year absence, shot one of the three best scores in a day of changing fortunes — a 67 — behind an explosive backside stint of 31 where he caught fire with five straight birdies from No. 12.

Jarrod Moseley, another Aussie bet, fired a 71 to tie Miñoza for fourth at 140, the same output put in by first day co-leader Jason Knutzon of the US, who matched par 72.

Pagunsan, whose atrocious 79 in the first round put the country’s best hope — outside of Miñoza — in danger of missing the cut, did fail to make it to the Open weekend as he hobbled with a 77 for a 156.

Amateur Jay Bayron, who joined the pros at the helm Thursday, double bogeyed No. 17 and limped with a 74, dropping from joint first to 11th with 142.

Carito Villaroman, whose late, sparkling 68 Thursday sparked hopes of an explosive campaign by the former junior world champion, took many steps backwards, no thanks to a triple-bogey 7 on No. 2. He spent the rest of the day scrambling for pars and chasing birdies that hardly came his way, winding up with a 75 and slipping from joint first to a share of 20th.

"I hit it from behind as I tried to play it safe from a stymied lie," rued Villaroman, whose shot rolled straight into a lagoon. He pitched but the ball spun off the slightly elevated green.

Anthony Kang, winner of this event in 1999 at Southwoods, fumbled with a two-over 74 and slid from a share of the lead to joint 13th at 142 while Wang Ter-chang, who ruled the 1992 edition at Puerto Azul, made a double-bogey on the par-4 16th and finished with a 75 for a 143.

Miñoza, still trying to groove it out with a new swing, had an up-and-down round of three birdies with the same number of bogeys after nine holes. But the veteran campaigner, eyeing a second Open crown since he won at Riviera in 1998, made a late charge after rolling a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 12.

He knocked down another five-footer on the next, banged in an improbable putt from 30 feet on No. 14 then added two more birdies on superb approach shots.

A two-putt par on the treacherous par-3 17th broke that birdie-binge and a scrambling par on the last capped Miñoza’s explosive 31 for that 67, lifting the ace Filipino shotmaker from 45th to joint fourth.

"I got kind of lucky on the back nine with four birdies in a row. My putting was really good today. I hope to sustain this good game tomorrow," said Miñoza."I just couldn’t make the putt in the first round."

"Today, it only clicked at the backside. But overall, he’s playing well after we overhauled his swing," said Roger Retuerto, Miñoza’s long-time mentor.

Aside from Pagunsan, others who missed the cut were former Open champions Cassius Casas (76-152) and Robert Pactolerin (81-155) and Thai former Asian Tour champion Thaworn Wiratchant (79-155).

Miñoza, however, tried to play down his superb round and sounded a little bit ironic in a post-game interview.

"In the first round, I was hitting it good but did not score well. Today, I struggled with my shots but had a good score," said Miñoza. "That’s why they call it a crazy game."

A total of 79 players advanced, including 17 Filipinos, to the last two rounds. They included amateur Tonton Asistio (68-143), former champion Gerald Rosales (70-143), Cookie La’O (70-143), Artemio Murakami (72-143), Marlon Dizon (71-144).