Casas grabs 1-shot Eastridge lead

CASSIUS Casas gunned down eight birdies Tuesday, including a 10-footer on the 18th to grab a one-shot lead over Miguel Tabuena after the opening round of the ICTSI Manila Masters at Eastridge in Binangonan, Rizal.

The former Philippine Open champion was in his element the entire day and carved out a fine start as he hopes to atone for several missed cuts in the past two months while gunning for his second triumph this year.

Tabuena, 19, missed a six-footer for par also on the 18th and yielded the lead to stay a stroke ahead of Mark Fernando.

There were 20 players who cracked par with Jay Bayron and two-time Order of Merit champion Antonio Lascuña shooting 68s and Angelo Que bunched in a five-man group that shot 70s.

Dutchman Guido Van Der Valk was the best-placed foreigner with a 74, while the legendary Frankie Miñoza struggled to post a 77.

“I have been trying to get a round like this going, and it happened today,” said Casas, who won the by-invitation-only P5 million The Country Club in Laguna last February.

Tabuena was working on a bogey-free round until he failed to rescue that six-footer on the closing hole.

“It was a good round and I made a few long putts,” Tabuena said. “But I bogeyed what for me was the easiest hole.” Ferdie Aunzo, the former PH Team spearhead who calls this course home, settled for a 74, in the company of Van Der Valk and Canada’s Rick Gibson, another PH Open champion.

The event is being backed by Nike Golf, Pacsports, Srixon, FootJoy, It’s More Fun in the Philippines, Callaway, Mizuno, Custom Clubmakers, Titleist, Sharp and KZG with Balls Channel, Inquirer Golf and ABS-CBN Sports+Action as media partners.