Becierra trails by 5 as Fernando falters

SINGAPORE – Former Hong Kong Amateur Open champion Dante Becierra came out a bit better in a day of soaring scores, carding a four-over par 75 to trail new leader Edgar Oh by five strokes midway through the Singapore Open Amateur Championship at the Warren Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

With Mhark Fernando hobbling with an eight-over 79 and tumbling down from joint second to share of 11th, Becierra took the challenger’s role with a 149, vowing to make a charge in the final two rounds in pursuit of his first win after scoring back-to-back victories in Hong Kong in 2007.

“The course is too tough with its tight fairways and thick roughs. It’s risky to hit it with a driver but you’ll give up length with a 3-wood off the mound. So it’s a gamble and I’ll try to give it a shot in the last two days,” said Becierra, who also won three low amateur honors on the ICTSI-PGT circuit back home.

Oh flashed his familiarity with the demanding layout although the local bet faltered with four bogeys against two birdies for a two-over 73 that proved enough to shove him to the top with a 144.

That was two strokes up on Indian Ashbeer Singh Saini, who turned in the day’s best score of one-over 72 for a 146 while another local entry George Anthony Foo tied erstwhile leader Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka at 147 after a 75.

Perera, impressive with a one-under 70 in the first round, fumbled with a bogey-littered six-over 77. Hamza Amin of Pakistan also wavered with a 76 to join Foo and Perera in third.

Becierra, the top ICTSI-backed bet searching for his first international win since scoring back-to-back in Hong Kong in 2007, actually turned in a solid start of one-under 35. But he double-bogeyed No. 11, dropped two more strokes on No. 14 then bogeyed the difficult 18th for a 40 and a 75.

Worse was Fernando, the ICTSI-Cangolf standout who had a decent one-over 36 at the back where he teed off. But the former national champion back home found the going tough at the front, bogeying the first three holes, dropping two strokes on No. 4 before holing out with another double-bogey mishap for an awful 43.

Jessie Balasabas slid from 21st to joint 26th at 153 after a six-over 77 in a round marred by a triple-bogey 8 on No. 15, a double bogey on No. 2 and five bogeys against four birdies.

Justin Limjap, one of the new members of the ICTSI-The Country Club team, limped with an 80 for joint 32nd at 155 while Jhonnel Ababa hardly moved up with a 77 and a 157 in a tie with Brent Sumampong, who also made an 80.