Hot-putting Quiban seizes lead with 66
TARLAC – Justin Quiban drilled in long putts from as far as 35 feet and charged to the top with a sixunder 66, one stroke ahead of Clyde Mondilla and Joenard Rates halfway through the CAT (Central Azucarera de Tarlac) Open at the Luisita Golf and Country Club here yesterday.
Quiban rolled in that curling, downhill putt from way out on the tough par-3 17th, capping a pair of 33s fashioned out in ideal conditions as erstwhile frontrunner Andrew Campbell of Australia and Swede Oskar Arvidsson fumbled and tumbled down the leaderboard with 74 and 76, respectively.
The 21-year-old Quiban, due for a big win after figuring in a final round duel in the last two major tournaments at Southwoods and Wack Wack, also knocked down a couple of birdie putts from difficult lies and finished with eight to negate his double-bogey mishap on the par-4 No. 14.
“My putts on the sixth and seven were both from difficult downhill lies but I managed to get a nice read and made them,” said Quiban, who took charge of the elite field with an eight-under 136.
But lurking behind at 137 is the fancied Mondilla, who blitzed his way to joint second with a 67, sparked by a three-birdie binge from No. 3, with the unheralded Rates also pooling a seven-under total with his own version of 33-34 under preferred lies rule.
Mondilla actually tied Quiban at eight-under with a birdie on No. 15 but this year’s Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner three-putted No. 16, flubbing a five-footer for par.
“I had a long first putt (40 feet) and pushed it too hard and went past the cup,” said Mondilla, who nailed four PGT victories this year, including the Players Championship at Summit Golf last September.
Rates, who last won in Baguio in 2014, also sizzled with seven birdies against two bogeys and hoped to sustain his charge in the last 36 holes to gain a crack at the top $17,500 purse in the event sponsored by ICTSI.
Jhonnel Ababa also pressed his bid with a 67, spiking his 33-34 card with seven birdies against two bogeys, including a second straight on the 17th, for a 139 in a tie with Campbell, Charles Hong, Englishman Grant Jackson and Matthew Negri of the US.
Campbell, who took control with an impressive 65 on an early start in the first round Wednesday, actually held sway with three birdies in the first seven holes at the back where he started. But he lost his touch and rhythm on his way home, making three bogeys and a double bogey on No. 3 where he had to settle for a punch shot off a bad lie on the fairway bunker. He limped with a 74.
Negri, meanwhile, scored the second hole-in-one in the $100,000 event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., acing the 160yard No. 13 using a TaylorMade 9-iron and TaylorMade ball No. 3.
That ace sandwiched a brilliant six-under card in a five-hole stretch from No. 12 and capped a solid 35-30 card for the American with Jackson also turning in a sevenunder 65 after rebounding from a bogey-bogey start at the front.
Hong, on the other hand, rode on a four-birdie run in a five-hole stretch from No. 12 and carded a 69, while Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang (70), Kris Etter (71), Elmer Salvador (69), Macedonian Peter Stojanovski (69) and Dutch Guido Van der Valk (69) shared 10th spot with 140s.