Borrowed putter may do the trick

What could hold the key to Frankie Miñoza’s title-repeat bid in the Philippine Open, which features some of the region’s best and the country’s finest, is a borrowed club in his bag.

“I have been playing good but not scoring too well at the moment. My putting hasn’t been okay over the past three months but I hope this week will be different,” said Miñoza, who has uncharacteristically missed the cut in his first three events on the Asian Tour.

Miñoza, cited by the Asian Tour for a remarkable season last year, blamed his balky putter for his failure to advance in the Indonesian Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic and the Malaysian Open.

He, however, is hopeful his new weapon will make the difference this week.

“I’ve got a new Odyssey putter from a friend and I hope it will help me stay in contention through Sunday,” said Miñoza, referring to the short putter with a big grip lent to him by Pueblo de Oro operations manager Clifford Celdran.

“I’ve been using it the past week and it feels good. I hope my putting will improve in the Open,” said Miñoza, who bounced back from those missed cut stints with a weekend appearance in the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea last month. After a second round 69, however, he skied to a 76 and needed a closing 69 to salvage a 60th place finish out of the 67 survivors.

For Miñoza’s talent, that Asian Tour start does not augur well for his back-to-back title bid and a third RP Open crown. But with a brand-new putter, things could go on the upswing for the smooth-swinging Filipino pro.

“If it produces good results in the first round then that’s it, it will stay in my bag,” said Miñoza.  – Dante Navarro