Unknown Thai ahead with 64

CARMONA, Cavite—Without the winds and with the preferred-lie rule in effect, the Masters layout of the Manila Southwoods here took a beating from the field led by a long shot from Thailand in the first round of the $750,000 Resorts World Manila Masters yesterday.

Thai Jazz Janewattananond fired an 8-under-par 64 and Richard Lee of Canada, the Solaire Open runner-up at Wack Wack last April, nearly matched that effort with a 65 at the well-manicured course.

Playing together in a morning flight, the two combined for 15 birdies on a calm day, although the Thai’s 64 won’t be considered as an equivalent of Angelo Que’s course record because of the lift-clean-and-place rule.

Charles Hong, playing in just his second Asian Tour event, was the highest-placed Filipino with a 66, tied with five others, even as Que and Antonio Lascuña put together 67s to join a 13-man group that included former Philippine Open champion Anthony Kang of the United States and Chinese No. 1 Liang Wenchong.

In all, 77 players cracked par and another 13 returned level 72s as the field had a heyday attacking the pin placements.

The 18-year-old Jazz, who made Asian Tour history in 2010 by becoming the youngest player, at 14, to make a tournament cut, churned out his superlative round despite the flu.

“I have been nursing the flu since returning from India last week,” said the slim Jazz, who has missed just one cut this year. “My iron play was pretty good today and I played pretty consistent, too.”

Frankie Miñoza, the most distinguished Filipino in the field, needed 45 putts in a 75 that left him 11 strokes off the pace and in dire need of a truly solid round today to make the weekend play.

The 53-year-old Miñoza, who said before the start of the tournament that he would play for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” missed six greens and dropped a total of five shots—all in a front-nine 40 that was marred by a double-bogey 6 on the semi-island ninth green.

Que, who is coming off a joint fourth-place finish in India, had an uncharacteristically cold start, dropping two shots on his first five holes after missing the second and fifth greens.

But the 35-year-old rallied in the back nine, shooting five of his seven birdies to keep himself well in the mix and in position to nail his first Asian Tour title since the Selangor Masters in 2010.

“It played easy because the conditions were ideal,” Que said of the low-scoring first round. “When the winds blow, it’s going to be a different story.

Lascuna barely missed joining Hong when his nine-foot birdie putt on the 18th just grazed the cup.

The leading scores (Filipino unless stated):

64—J. Janewattananond (THA) 33-31; 65—R. Lee (CAN) 34-35; 66—T. Chuayprakong (THA) 33-33, C. Hong 33-33, M. Stieger (AUS) 34-32, D. Lipsky (USA) 33-33, C. Sainz (USA) 34-32; 67—S. Kuratanapisan (THA) 34-33, P. Meesawat (THA) 33-34, Lam CB (SIN) 32-35, K. Samooja (FIN) 33-34, L. Weber (FRA) 32-35, Wang JH (KOR) 33-34, Liang W (CHN) 34-33, A. Que 36-31, Lee S (KOR) 32-35, A. Lascuña 32-35, A. Kang (USA) 34-33, T. Khrongpha (THA) 33-34, CS Chang (TWN) 33-34; 68—K. Ichihara (JPN) 33-35, Hung CY (TWN) 34-34, C. Pigem (ESP) 35-33, R. Gangjee (IND) 33-35, Hsu MN (TWN) 33-35, Zhang L (CHN) 32-36, Tsai CH (TWN) 32-36, P. Junsahavasdikul (THA) 34-34, C. Rodgers (ENG) 35-33, J. Moore (USA) 32-36, E. Bertheussen (NOR) 33-35, A. Da Silva (BRA) 32-36, H. Rai (IND) 33-35, D. Lutterus (AUS) 33-35, A. Lohan (IND) 33-35.