Early-starting Thai, Indian lead by one

MANILA, Philippines - Asian Tour regulars Jay Bayron and Mars Pucay charged home at dusk with a pair of 69s, joining compatriot Marvin Dumandan in third, one stroke behind the early-starting duo of Thanyakon Khrongpha of Thailand and Himmat Rai of India who took the clubhouse lead with 68s at the start of the ICTSI Philippine Open yesterday.

Play was suspended due to darkness with at least five flights to complete their respective rounds at 6:45 a.m. today as lightning in mid-afternoon marred the opener of the $300,000 event, causing a one-hour, 35-minute delay.

At resumption, no one turned in no lower than 69 at the tough Wack Wack’s east layout, enabling two of Asian Tour’s emerging stars to take charge over a field teeming with talent.

Khrongpha and Rai, plus a slew of others, took advantage of their early morning start to shoot those 68s, one stroke ahead of three local bets, veteran and former Phl Open winner Wang Ter-chang of Taiwan, Berry Henson of Australia and Peter Karmis of South Africa.

“You need to keep the ball in play and that’s what I did. If you find the fairways, you have a very strong chance of scoring because the greens are excellent,” said the 23-year-old Rai who finished tied for fifth in last week’s Impian Classic in Malaysia in the Asian Development Tour.

Thanyakon, on the other hand, flashed a superb iron play that set up six birdies inside three feet.

“My iron shots were excellent. This is a very difficult golf course and you need to stay patient which I did,” said the 20-year-old Thai.

“It was a good start but I have to polish my putting to be in contention in the weekend play,” said Dumandan, winner of three legs in the local circuit last year and chasing his first big title in three years.

It’s indeed a big start for the 31-year-old Dumandan, who actually shot a 78 and then added an 84 and missed the cut in 2008 here.

Pucay, still winless in the Asian circuit, rallied with three birdies at the back for that 69 while Bayron birdied two of the last nine holes at the front to put himself in early contention.

Another Thai bet Prom Meesawat, coming off a victory in the Asean Tour last week, Japanese Daisuke Kataoka and Takafumi Kawane, Australian Gavin Flint and India’s Digvijay Singh shot 70s.

Lin Wen-hong of Taiwan, Malaysian Danny Chia, Sujan Singh of India, Corey Harris of Australia, Thammanoon Sriroj of Thailand and local bet Orlan Sumcad all had 71s, including Asian Tour No. 2 Siddikur of Bangladesh.

Angelo Que, playing in a featured flight with Siddikur and Swede ace Rikard Karlberg, who had a 74, fought back from a double-bogey mishap on No. 12 with back-to-back birdies from No. 14 but three-putted No. 16 and missed the green on the 18th for a one-over 73 at dusk.

“I shot the same score in 2008,” said Que in Filipino, referring to his opening round stint three years ago before he rallied with a 71 and 66 before coasting to the win despite a closing 73 for his first Phl Open title.

Pagunsan, one of the fancied local bets here who shot eight birdies to lead his team to victory in Wednesday’s pro-am tournament, made a double bogey on the tough par-3 No. 8 and wound up with a 73 in a tie with former Phl Open winners Robert Pactolerin and Elmer Salvador and Benjie Magada, Aussie Unho Park, Manila-based Canadian Rick Gibson and Malaysian ace Ben Leong.

Two-time winner Frankie Miñoza and defending champion Artemio Murakami found themselves in danger of missing the cut with a pair of four-over 76s with the former hobbling with two double-bogeys and four bogeys against four birdies and the latter fumbling with a double-bogey and four bogeys against two birdies.

The 150-player starting field, which included seven amateurs, actually got a reprieve as Asian Tour officials decided to adopt preferred lies for the first two days owing to a rainy weather forecast with some fairways already softened by the rains spawned by Typoon Bebeng last Sunday.

The event marks the return of the Phl Open to the Asian Tour calender after a two-year absence with the world’s leading port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc coming in as title sponsor.

The other backers of the tournament, held under the auspices of the National Golf Association, are San Miguel Corp., Globe Telecom, Lexus, HSBC, Splash Corporation and Ayala Land Premier with Srixon, Ricoh, BlackBerry, Inetol, Motorola, Label 5 and Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria as supporters.