Menor rides birdie binge to 1-shot lead

Rene Menor. THE PHILIPPINE GOLF TOUR PHOTO

OBSCURE Rene Menor fired five birdies and settled for a four-under-par 68 yesterday to lead veteran Gerald Rosales and rookie Jobim Carlos by one shot after the opening round of the P3.5 million Manila Masters at Eastridge.

Menor had his only bogey coming on No. 7 even as Carlos lost a chance to tie for the lead after dropping his only shot on the 17th for a 33-36 which still stands out as his best start in four tournaments as a pro.

Rosales, the former Philippine Open champion, also booked his hottest opening round in years, with Clyde Mondilla shooting a 70 and Frankie Miñoza and Jay Bayron firing 71s to be just three shots adrift.

Defending champion Angelo Que had an up-and-down round, firing five birdies that went with two double bogeys and a bogey for a 72, tied with Dutchman Guido Van Der Valk, Mark Fernando and Japan’s Ryoma Miki.

Miguel Tabuena shot himself in the foot with a triple bogey 8 on No. 2 and went on to fire nines of 39-37 that left the fancied 21-year-old eight shots off the lead.

Antonio Lascuna, the third man in the local Big 3 playing in the tournament, could only fire a 74, tied with eight others counting former Open champion Artemio Murakami, the veteran Mars Pucay and Arnold Villacencio.

“The wind started to blow later in my round and I was lucky I started early,” Menor said.