Magada carries fight for RP, trails by 1

When all else seemed to fail for the home front, Benjie Magada rose to the challenge in the Philippine Open.

Magada flashed a near-impeccable touch on the tricky putting surface of Wack Wack’s east course and went on to fire an eagle-spiked, five-under par 67 for a share of second with Aussie Gavin Flint, one shot off a charging Kodai Ichihara of Japan at the start of the $300,000 championship at Wack Wack’s east course yesterday.

“I just got lucky some of my putts went in because it’s really very difficult to putt here,” said Magada, who misread a par putt from two feet on No. 15 to drop out of the lead he momentarily held with a six-foot birdie on No. 13.

Still, it was a remarkable round for the wiry 41-year-old Valley pro, who used his trusted putter just 18 times in the first 13 holes before finishing with 29 in a 32-35 card as he sparked hopes for the 53-man Filipino contingent after its top guns wavered in the round.

Ichihara charged home in one of the late afternoon flights with a solid 66, putting together nines of 33-33 he highlighted with seven birdies from inside six feet in a day-long display of superb putting.

Regaining his tour card in the recent Asian Qualifying, Ichihara came up with a joint 11th finish in the Sail Open in India last February, missed the cut in last week’s Asian Tour International in Thailand but bounced back to shoot the day’s best score here.

Artemio Murakami made a fast start to share the lead after nine holes at four under only to tumble down with a shaky finish for a 71. Juvic Pagunsan hit three birdies in the first five holes at the back only to falter with four bogeys and a double-bogey against another birdie for a 74, dropping three strokes in the last three holes.

Frankie Miñoza, the defending champion and the country’s best bet for a rare RP Open double, hobbled with a poor start and wound up with a 76.

While the rest of the field struggled on the east’s sleek putting surface, Ichihara made it look easy as he gunned down seven birdies, including a 36-footer on No. 4 that sparked his birdie binge. The 25-year-old Tokyo native also banged in birdies from 21 and 18 feet linking both nines and made shorter putts on Nos. 5, 8, 12 and 14 to negate a lone bogey on No. 7 when he pitched short off the green.

“I’m very happy. I like the course because it’s very tricky. It’s a thinking man’s course since you don’t have to be a long hitter to score,” said Ichihara.

For a while, Flint and compatriot Ashley Hall poised to take the top spots with a 67 and 68, respectively, until Ichihara and Magada surged home to pace the leaderboard that also included four other RP bets among the top 18.

Amateur Jhonnel Ababa came out of the middle of the pack with three birdies against a bogey in the last seven holes at the front as he joined the 11-man group of 71 scorers that included Tony Lascuna, club bet Marlon Dizon and Murakami.

Flint birdied the last two holes to fire a five-under par 67 and set in motion Australia’s bid to reclaim the Open crown after Adam Le Vesconte and Scott Strange won back-to-back from 2005

“I birdied the last two holes and that’s always a nice way to finish a round,” said Flint, who led the attack at Wack Wack’s east course which yielded 18 under-par scores, mostly from the foreign bets in the starting 156-man field, on a hot, humid day.

But the fabled layout punished those with wayward shots and poor putting, including Miñoza, who uncharacteristically dropped five shots in the first nine holes and needed a birdie on the par-4 16th to salvage a four-over par 76.

“No talk,” was all Miñoza could say when pressed to assess his round. But his scorecard showed three bogeys on Nos. 4, 6 and 7 and a double-bogey on the par-4 eighth in a woeful frontside performance.

“His putts just wouldn’t go in,” said coach Roger Retuerto in Filipino. “He had a number of short putts from around 4-5 feet which just passed the hole.”

But the former national team mentor said it was the double-bogey mishap, which ruined Miñoza’s day as he drove the slight dog-leg No. 8 into a stymied lie, overshot the green had an unplayable lie and then two-putted for 6.

However, Thaworn Wiratchant, in Miñoza’s flight together with last week’s Asian Tour International winner Lin Wen-tang, said the ace Filipino shotmaker wrestled with his swing majority of the way.

“He hit no good,” said Wiratchant, who emerged the top performer in the group with a 72, blowing a two-under under-par with bogeys on Nos. 15 and 18.

Lin fought back from a five-over card with a stirring four-birdie binge from No. 12 and wheeled back into contention with a 73.

Flint, out to improve his joint 41st finish here last year and way down in 48th in the current Asian Tour

Order of Merit ranking, minimized his mistakes by staying out of trouble and making the putts that produced six birdies which negated his lone bogey on No. 1.

“I think the key is to stay out of trouble and that’s what I did,” said the Brisbane-based Flint.

Hall, a 6-4 steady hitter from Melbourne, also kept himself out of danger all day and was sufficiently rewarded with four birdies in a bogey-less round that kept him tied with Thai bet Chawalit Plaphol, who had 33-35.

“On this course, one can’t just hit it off the mound and so I tried to stay out of trouble and made some good approach shots for birdies,” said Hall. “I will try to put myself in contention and see what happens on Sunday.”

Miñoza isn’t worried about what’s going to happen on Sunday. The two-time Asian Tour OOM champion is probably concerned on how to survive the cut today.

With a 76, the reticent Miñoza is way below the project 65-plus-ties cutoff line in joint 80th and hopes to do well today with a low round in a bid to get into the Open weekend.