Tabuena slips to 3rd in Taipei

Miguel Tabuena barely recovered from a fumbling start and scrambled for a 72, dropping from joint lead to solo third, two strokes behind new leader Ajeetesh Sandhu of India halfway through the Taiwan Masters in New Taipei City yesterday.

After a flawless 67 that put him in step with Malaysian Nicholas Fung, Tabuena struggled with his long game and irons, missing six fairways and seven greens although his steady putting kept him in the title hunt in the $900,000 event at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club.

After salvaging a par on the first hole, he failed to do the same in the next two and made bogeys. Though he birdied three of the next four to go one-under for the day, he scrambled for pars in the next nine holes before dropping another stroke on the par-3 17th for a 35-37 round.

With a five-under 139, the two-time Asian Tour winner slipped to third as Sandhu wrested control at 137 after a 69 with Argentine Miguel Carballo moving to second at 138 with the day’s best six-under 66.

Fung, who missed grabbing the first-day honors with a last-hole mishap, fared worse than Tabuena, hardly rebounding from a disastrous frontside 40 and ending up with a 76 to tumble to joint 17th at 143.

Over in Japan, Angelo Que squandered a three-under card with five holes to go as he fumbled at the finish and settled for a 70 to fall six shots off joint leaders Shugo Imahira and Mikumu Horikawa after 36 holes of the Tokai Classic in Aichi yesterday.