Bibat a stroke up after flawless 65
Michael Bibat played with the mindset of minimizing his mistakes over a layout known to punish bad judgment and on Tuesday fired a bogey-less seven-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead over Elee Bisera after the first round of the P3.5 million ICTSI Del Monte Championship in Bukidnon.
“The goal was to hit fairways and greens and then be aggressive with the putter,” said Bibat after draining seven birdies in a 31-34 card over the tree-lined layout that saw the return to action of the revered Frankie Miñoza. “I was able to give myself so many chances to make birdies.”
Bisera, meanwhile, hit five of his seven birdies coming home to be a shot ahead of a group of four that included two South Koreans and Ryan Monsalve and Arnold Villacencio as the talented field had 35 players breaking par, counting Miñoza, who fired an impressive 69 in his first tournament back after a layoff of almost two years.
Taewon Ha fired a 29 in the back nine where he started to shoot a 67 like Chon Koo-kang, Monsalve and Villacencio, even as a six-man group led by Jonel Ababa and Keanue Jahns shot 68s to be just three shots back as the tournament is now looking at a formidable halfway cut with a total of 41 out of the 70 players opening with par or better scores.
Meanwhile, Chanelle Avaricio fired a 67 to be two shots ahead of Daniella Uy at the start of the 54-hole ladies championship. Young Bukidnon native Velinda Castil shot a 70 to be just three behind.
Hometown bets Clyde Mondilla and Reymon Jaraula, who finished 1-2 the last time Del Monte hosted a PGT event in 2023, fired a 71 and 68, respectively, and would need to go low Wednesday to keep in step with the blistering pace set by Bibat and Bisera.
“Everything just clicked out there for me today,” Bisera said in Filipino as he bared that he was just shooting to be in the middle of the pack. “The target for me was a level par score. But my driving and short game just worked.”
Jahns and Rupert Zaragosa, the winner of the last three legs combined, both finished with a flurry with Jahns eagling Nos. 6 and 9—his 15th and 18th holes—to salvage his 68, while Zaragosa, who won in Bacolod three weeks ago, gunning down four of his five birdies in the back nine to also be three shots back.
Miñoza, the ageless wonder, had five birdies and two bogeys in a 36-33 effort, put himself in the mix on the course he knows like the back of his hands. He shared 13th spot with eight others, counting American Collin Wheeler and Japan’s Yudai Nakakuri.
