Canadian fires 68, keeps lead in Philippine Open

TARLAC, Philippines – Canadian Lindsay Renolds barely kept pole position as a bunch of pursuers including Filipino Miguel Tabuena moved well within striking distance entering the final reckoning in the shortened 98th Philippine Open presented by ICTSI here.

Renolds, battling to save his spot in 2016 Asian Tour with no less than a triumph here, recovered from an early bogey mishap to fire a four-under-par 68 Saturday under an overcast aky and occasional drizzle for a two-day  tally of 10-under 134.

The Phuket-based Renolds returned to the clubhouse of the Luisita Golf & Country Club with a one-stroke upperhand against Australian Scott Barr, the day’s best scorer with an eagle-aided 66, with a tightly packed chase group close by and threatening to make it a down-to-the-wire finish.

Tabuena, spiking his second-day 69 with an eagle in the ninth hole, stood two shots off Renolds with 136 as he shared third with Finnish Kalle Samooja (67), Korean Giwhan Kim (67), and Indian Gaganjeet Bollar (69).

Not too far behind with 137s were South African Keith Horne (68), Indian Khalin Joshi (67), Thai Chinnarat Phadungsil (70), Irish Niall Turner (68) and Korean Wang Jeunghun (70).

“It’s anybody’s game still,” said Renolds in anticipation of a Sunday shootout in the $300,000 Asian Tour event sponsored by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. “The guys behind me are playing very well also. I have to play well if I wanna win. If I play average and the people behind me play well, I’ll get overlapped in the end.”

Unlike Friday’s flawless round, Renolds got off on the wrong foot as he misfired his tee shot in No. 1. However, he managed to save bogey there and eventually bounced back with a three birdies from Nos. 4-7. He added two more going back to stay on top.

 “I just hit a poor tee shot and didn’t give myself a good chance to hit on the green. I played it safe and walked away with a bogey to limit the damage. Other than that, I was playing well so I figured I just have to play my game and it should work,” he said.

Barr vaulted from joint 11th to No. 2 with a solid effort, rolling in 25 putts spiked by a 15-foot eagle putt on No. 5 to fuel his climb.

 “Obviously this is a huge week. For me I just want to play my best and it is going well. I’ll try and be aggressive tomorrow. The eagle was good because it pushed me further into the round,” said Barr.“I’ll just have to go out be aggressive, try to stay loose and see how it pans out. I’m sure everybody’s fighting for the same thing,” he added.

Local boy Tabuena, feeling better after a bout with fever, highlighted his round with a chip-in eagle in No. 9, his last hole. He drove to 236 yards, landed on the fringe and elected to chip it home from 12 feet instead of going for putt.

“The plan tomorrow is to attack but using the head,” said the 21-year-old Pinoy, who is banking on his familiarity with the Robert Trent Jones Sr championship course, site of his triumph in the local tour, in his bid for the $54,000 top prize.

The tourney  is also sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT, Metro Pacific, Amon Trading, Central Azucarera de Tarlac and Ayala Land, Inc. with San Miguel Corp., Suntrust Properties and Sta. Lucia as hole sponsors.