Sinfuego surges into lead with 66

LIPA, Batangas, Philippines – Richard Sinfuego holed out in gathering dusk with six-under-par 66, surging past the big guns to emerge the surprise leader in the $50,000 (about P2.4 million) ICTSI Mt. Malarayat Championship, the third leg of the Mercedes-Benz Tour here.

The 37-year-old Sinfuego battled the difficult conditions with a 31 in the frontnine where he closed out his first round stint to lead Thai Ronnachai Jamnong by a stroke and defending champion Angelo Que and Thai star Arjun Artjanawat by two.

Sinfuego came close to breaking the course record of 65 when he hit three consecutive birdies from No. 1, chipped in for another birdie on the seventh and then two-putted for his fifth on the par-5 ninth.

Teeing off at the 10th, he made the turn at one under on two birdies against a bogey on the 14th.

The Canlubang pro is winless since posting a back-to-back romp of the First Gentleman’s Cup in 2002-2003.

Que brandished a hot putter to gun down seven birdies, including three from the long range, against three bogeys to put himself in the championship hunt again.

“I struggled on the greens in my last event in Korea (where he missed the cut) and I had to work on my putting the past weeks,” said Que, who used 26 putts to complete his round over the course made tougher by testy pin placements and strong winds all day.

The 26-year-old Jamnong, meanwhile, hardly needed any putting skill to put himself in the mix. Five of Jamnong’s six birdies came from inside two feet and his lone mistake for the round was a three-putt bogey from 24 feet on the 18th.

Sinfuego thus led a torrid assault of the Mt. Malarayat course by the highly charged field which produced 23 sub-par rounds in the first round.

Veteran Antolin Fernando flashed vintage form to score a 69, the same output of Jerome Delariarte and Mars Pucay, the first winner of this event in 2007.

Que’s missed-cut stint at the Ballantine’s Open in Korea due to poor putting forced him to spend more practice time on the greens. He decided to check in at Malarayat as early as Sunday to work on his putting.

“I’ve never spent so much time on the practice greens. I wanted to get my feel back right away and I did quite well today,” Que said.

The 51-year-old Fernando stole the show with an impressive effort which the former Singapore Open champ credited to a rekindled interest on the game. He has been playing in the Asian Seniors Tour since last year.