Bedeviled
CARMONA—Justin Quiban can only smile—albeit slightly—at the fact that he will be starting his second round in the 108th Philippine Open early on Friday.
“It would be nice to play in a little, you know,” Quiban said, referring to the conditions that bedeviled the afternoon session in the first round on Thursday that had Kiwi Nick Voke—who played in the morning wave—shooting a five-under-par 65 for a one-shot lead over Nopparat Panichphol of Thailand.
Quiban dealt with the elements at the Masters of Manila Southwoods here rather well, birdieing the par-5 eighth—his 17th hole—to salvage a 69 and be the best-placed Filipino after 18 holes of the $1-million (around P64 million) championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Carl Corpus and Lloyd Go had 70s in contrasting ways, with the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games standout Corpus signing for two straight bogeys from the 12th that threw away a two-under card he built after the first seven holes.
Go, meanwhile, birdied the 18th to get to level and keep the leaders within reach even as former PGA Tour star Kevin Na, the American who bolted to LIV Golf, treated the 18th green crowd to a sand-blasting show when he almost holed out his third shot coming from the front bunker.
The 43-year-old went on to make a six-foot putt for birdie for a 67 to be in the company of Andy Ogletree, another American, and three others trailing the leader by three.
Voke made the most out of more benign conditions early, shooting six birdies in a 31-34 effort that had the 32-year-old from Auckland starting off well in his chase of a first Asian Tour title.
Thai ace
“I had a lot of good birdie looks,” Voke, who drained a curling 25-footer on the ninth, his final hole, said. “I tried keeping the driver in the bag to make sure that I get decent looks [at the greens] from the fairways.”
Panichphol had five birdies in his 33-33 effort, leading a Thai delegation that put six of its aces inside the top 13, counting Pavit Tangkamolprasert, who is chasing a DP World Tour card by sealing an Order of Merit victory here.
Tangkamolprasert had four birdies and a double bogey on the par-4 15th, one of two par-5s for members who are being made to play a stroke less this week, and is tied with five others, including Carson Herron, the son of former PGA Tour star Tim “Lumpy” Herron.
