WHAT. A. DAY.
CABUYAO—Miguel Tabuena did what he set out for on moving day.
And after playing flawlessly for the first time this week, he uttered a phrase that could define how the International Series Philippines could turn out: with a non-golfing host country hoping to toast a local champion.
“I couldn’t have written (the script) any better than this,” the 31-year-old Tabuena told the Inquirer, minutes after carving out a second straight seven-under-par 65—this time bogeyless—to claim a piece of a three-way tie at the top heading into the final 18 holes of the biggest event this country has hosted in terms of participation and prize money.
Also, for the second straight day, Tabuena gunned down two eagles, with the one on the 16th on Saturday giving him a piece of the pace with Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut and China’s Sampson Zheng at the end of the day at 199.
Tabuena’s rise comes on the same day the country scored big wins in international fronts, with a gymnastics icon emerging as world champion and a rising mixed martial artist notching a dominant gold in an event featuring Asia’s finest young athletes.
Suwannarut, who started the round four shots ahead of Tabuena and Japan’s Kazuki Higa, had five birdies in submitting a 69, while Zheng had an eagle and six of his eight birdies coming in a 10-hole stretch starting from the eighth for a 62 that would have counted as the new course record had the field not used preferred lies rules since the opening round on Thursday.
“I was just cruising, in a free state,” Tabuena, who has never won a tournament while holding or sharing the 54-hole lead, said. “It’s what I wanted to do at the start of the round. It was nice to execute the plan for today.”
And the plan for the final day?
“I’m going to keep the pedal to the metal, for sure,” Tabuena said of his mindset as he tries to win an IS event for the first time. “I won’t change a thing. You can’t go out there and play safe, play defensively, because this golf course has gotten gettable.”
That was really the case, as only one player in the top 26 failed to crack par and five others within five shots of the lead after going really low, counting Marc Leishman, the big Aussie who shot a 65 for 204.
Dean Burmester of South Africa is within three after his version of a 65, the same output of unorthodox-swinging Japanese Yosuke Asaji, who closed out with four straight birdies in a back-nine 29 to be within a stroke heading into Sunday.
“I am playing good enough to be aggressive,” the confident Tabuena continued as he shot to improve on a third-place finish in the Qatar stop of the IS last year. “And I know the hole which I haven’t taken advantage of at all this week.”
Tabuena was referring to the eighth, a 577-yard par-5, where he has practically lost three strokes to the field by failing to birdie it in the first three rounds.
“I need to play that one better,” he said.
There was also a dry spell of eight holes from the fourth for Tabuena, who left a couple of shots out there. He had an eight-foot putt for birdie on the 15th that stopped inches from dropping in.
A big gallery followed the final group and was rewarded when Tabuena snapped that spell with a six-foot curling putt for birdie on the 12th and another on the next.
The crescendo was at its highest when the Filipino hit a hard 5-iron from 235 yards out to within 10 feet of the cup on the 16th for the second eagle.
“(The ball) just stopped where I wanted it to stop (on the green),” he said.
Justin Quiban, the second of three Filipinos to make the cut, fired a 69 and remained eight shots behind, while the seasoned Angelo Que, who opened his third round just one shot behind Tabuena, struggled to a 75 to bow out of the title chase.
Tabuena tees off at 10:45 on Sunday, looking to write a masterpiece of a script at a Sta. Elena layout he very much calls home.
He has it all planned out: Pick up at least a shot on the eighth, keep his composure the way he has in the last three days, and hold on to the lead to win for the first time.
Do that and it will be the perfect ending to the country’s perfect golf ambassador. And this country is ready to celebrate with him.
