Japanese, Swede pace tour qualifying

MANILA, Philippines — Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden and Ryoma Miki of Japan turned in one-under-par 71s to share the lead at the start of the 2014 ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour Qualifying School (foreign) at Eagle Ridge’s Aoki Course in Gen. Trias, Cavite, Tuesday.

Kokocinski, an Asian Development Tour campaigner, made the turn at 34 then picked up another shot on the back nine against two bogeys for a 34-37 card, enabling Miki to gain a piece of the lead with a 35-36 round.

American Norman dela Peña and Canadian expatriate Rick Gibson fought back with 35s coming home to match par 72 and tie another American, Eric Mina (35-37), at third in the opener of the 72-hole eliminations offering 20 slots to this year’s ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour.

CJ Stjarnfalt, also of Sweden shot three birdies coming in to salvage a 74 for solo sixth while Yuto Katsuragawa of Japan and Korean Kim Chang-hoi carded 75s for joint seventh.

Mark Varela of Australia and Korean Park JS shot similar 76s for joint ninth while Koreans Lim Joon-soon, Cho Phil-hyu and Park Kyoung-chun returned 77s to stay in contention for slots in this year’s richer circuit sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

The organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. has put up a separate qualifier to accommodate the big number of foreigners seeking berths in the pro tour following the breakthrough win by Japanese Toru Nakajima in the tour’s last leg at Wack Wack last year.

Nakajima placed joint second in last year’s combined Q-School for local and foreign aspirants topped by Dutch Guido Van der Valk The coming 2014 season, which will feature a record 18 legs, including four P3.5-million events, fires off in March.