2015 ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational: Hot Shin ties Tabuena at helm with 66
Lanky Micah Shin got back at Miguel Tabuena and won the duel between two young guns, who stormed into joint clubhouse lead as erstwhile leader Ferdie Aunzo reeled back with two late bogeys halfway through the $60,000 ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational at EagleRidge’s Aoki course in Gen. Trias, Cavite yesterday.
Shin, outplayed by Tabuenain the first round, 74-72, rammed in four birdies coming home at the front andfinished with a five-under 66 in morning play, tying Tabuena, who closed with a33 and a 68, at two-under 140 at the par-71 layout.
Aunzo, who seized controlof the Asian Development Tour field with a gutsy 71 Wednesday, held on to the lead with birdies on Nos. 1 and 5 on his homeward trip but bogeyed the next two holes and wound up with a 70, dropping to solo third at 141.
Four flights were actually stranded as play was stopped due to lightning with Singapore’s Choo Tze Huangat two-under, Jessie Balasabas at one-under, Zanie Boy Gialon and Paul Echavezat even, Nilo Salahog at one-over, Aussie Jarrod Freeman at three-under after15 holes, among the contenders for spots in the last 36 holes.
American Brett Munson holedout with back-to-back birdies at the front to fire a 67 as he moved from joint 27th to a share of fourth at 142 with Malaysian Arie Irawan, who missed joining Aunzo at third with a final hole bogey for a 69.
US bet Yoon Sejun birdied the 17th to shoot a 70 and stay within striking distance at 143 with 36 holes left to play in the seventh leg of the ADT and third on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour.
After a punishing opener where Aunzo’s even par 71 stood as the best, conditions improved a bit yesterday, enabling 23 players to submit under par scores, some of which,however, proved not enough to carry them past the cut off score at 151.
Benjie Magada aced the152-yard No. 4 using an 8-iron and Pro V1 ball, his eighth hole-in-one. But his 70 failed to lift him into the final two rounds of the event sponsored by ICTSIand co-organized by ADT and Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. He made an 83 inthe first round and ended up in joint 69th at 153. He received P5,000 for his feat which actually spiked a sizzling four-hole binge that included three birdies from No. 3.
Angelo Que rebounded from disastrous 77 opening with an eagle-spiked 68 to move to joint seventh at 145, five shots off the joint leaders, while Tony Lascuna matched par 72 to moved to a share of 11th at 146 with Miguel Ochoa, who carded a 70, Dante Becierra, who made a 72, Thai Poosit Supupramai, who matched par 71, and Nick Redfern, who turned in a second straight 73.
Rufino Bayron, winner atADT Orchard last year, rallied with a 71 to lead the 147 scorers who included Marvin Dumandan (73), Finland’s Nils Floren (71), American Greg Moss (74),Gerald Rosales (74) and Mitchell Slorach of Singapore (73) while Scot James Byrne fought back with a 69 for a 148 in a tie with Jay Bayron (74), Michael Bibat (74), Cassius Casas (73), American Tyler Ekenberg (72), Keanu Jahns (73),Swede Niclas Johansson (68), Ian Mathay (70), Casey O’Toole of the US (70) and Japanese Masaru Takahashi (68).
Tabuena, 20, kept Shin atbay as they teed off at the back with Thai Itthipat Buranatanyarat in cloudy,gusty conditions, birdying two of the first three holes. But he dropped two strokes on the par-3 No. 15 when he needed two blasts to get out of the greenside bunker and saw his putt from six feet lip out.
That enabled the 18-year-old Shin to close in with a 34 before the Korean-American rattled off birdies on Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 8 for a 32 and a 66.
Tabuena actually matched that Shin binge with birdies on Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6 but bogeyed the par-3 seventh for the second straight day and missed wresting the solo lead.
Two flights behind with Supupramai and American Paul Harris, Aunzo birdied Nos. 11 and 13, made a double-bogey onNo. 16, but hit a birdie on the next and birdied Nos. 1 and 5 to stay on top.But the 35-year-old shotmaker bogeyed Nos. 6 and 7 and tumbled down the leaderboard.
