THE LESSER lights stood out on a trying first round of the $60,000 ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic Wednesday with Danny Masrin shooting a four-under-par 68 for a two-shot lead over Jun Bernis, Michael Bibat and Australian Gavin Fairfax in Trece Martirez, Cavite.
The 22-year-old Masrin, an Indonesian-American, gunned down three of his five birdies in the back nine to take the lead as the Asian Development Tour’s unheralded campaigners made up the majority of the Top 20 placers after a punishing, humid round over the ravine-laden layout.
“It was a great round considering the conditions—windy and very humid,” said the wiry Masrin, who had two Top 10 finishes in seven legs this season on the ADT.
Top local gun Antonio Lascuña struggled to a 73 to be five behind the pace, with John Michael O’Toole of the United States, who scored a course-record 10-under-par 61 in the second round at Southwoods last week, a stroke worse.
Jay Bayron, Rico Depilo and Randy Garalde were the other Filipinos in the Top 10 after similar 71s as Sherwood Hills bared its teeth early by yielding just 11 sub-par cards and forcing several scores in the 80s.
Koh Deng San of Singapore, who was second to Malaysia’s Gavin Green at Southwoods last week, shot himself in the foot with a 79, with Mark Fernando, the former caddy from Zamboanga who contended in Carmona, firing an 80.
Kasidit Lepkurte of Thailand, Akihiko Hashizume of Japan and Jann Kaske of Finland fired 71s to be in the company of Bayron, the runner-up to Berry Henson in the 2011 Philippine Open, who is seeking to snap a long title drought.
Bernis, the former national champion still seeking a breakthrough pro victory, had an eagle 2 on No. 7 and made the turn at 32. But he dropped shots on Nos. 13, 14 and 17 before catching Bibat and Fairfax with a birdie on the 18th.
“I couldn’t do anything right out there,” Lascuña rued in Filipino. “But considering how tough the conditions were today, 73 is a good enough score.”