Carlos paces PH Amateur by 1 after wind-blown 73

JOBIM Carlos stood out on a wind-blown opening round of the Philippine Amateur stroke play championship yesterday, shooting a one-over-par 73 to post a one-stroke lead over young Ira Alido at Eagle Ridge’s Aoki course in Gen. Trias, Cavite.

The defending champion, who turns pro next month, birdied the 17th hole from five feet to put some space between him and Alido even as the other fancied bets struggled in the blustery winds.

Many-time champion Rupert Zaragosa, whom Carlos nipped for the title last year, returned a 77 to be four behind, with Aidric Chan, Weiwei Gao and unknown Luis Castro shooting 75s to be two shots back.

The winds blew so hard all day that Carlos set out for the round just to match par.

“Anything close to that would have been nice, considering the conditions,” he said. “I really wanted to shoot even-par.”

Alido made the turn at 35 but barely got through on his final nine, signing for a triple bogey 6 on the 16th to lose the lead to Carlos.

Gen Nagai, the Japanese national who calls Cebu home, fired a 76 like Carl Corpus to stay in the hunt for the championship in the 72-hole event organized by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and backed by Smart, PLDT, Metro Pacific and the MVP Sports Foundation.

Harmie Constantino, the favorite in women’s play, also opened up with a 73 for a similar one-shot lead over Fil-Japanese Yuka Saso and Malaysian Nur Durriya Damian. Musong R. Castillo