American co-leader Anthony Kang hits his tee shot on the 10th hole of Wack Wack East.
MANILA, Philippines—A merry mix of foreign names forged a six-way tie for the lead after the opening round of the 96th ICTSI Philippine Open Thursday as the talented Asian Tour field was tormented by afternoon winds and Wack Wack East’s slippery greens.
Former champion Anthony Kang of the United States, armed with a new swing and admittedly enjoying a bit of luck, led a group that fired three-under-par 69s for a one-stroke lead over a seven-man bunch that included the legendary Filipino shotmaker Frankie Miñoza.
Singapore’s Mardan Mamat, Americans Matthew Rosenfeld and Ben Fox, unheralded Taiwanese Lu Tze-shyan, and Japan Tour multiwinner Azuma Yano fired contrasting versions of 69s to set the early pace with Kang in the $300,000 event.
The two-time champion Miñoza, at 52 one of the oldest in the field, was steady as a rock with a 70 like countrymen Mars Pucay and rookie pro Charles Hong and four foreigners.
Teen sensation Miguel Tabuena and the veteran Antonio Lascuña were the next best Filipinos on the leaderboard with 71s. In all, only 19 players cracked par and 13 others matched regulation as the event upheld its reputation as one of the toughest tests on the Asian Tour.
Kang, Lu, Mamat and Yano all stumbled in their closing holes and missed taking the solo lead. Kang, whose first win as a professional came in 1999 in this event, signed for his only bogey on the par-3 16th after a severely pulled tee shot.
Lu, a journeyman with a champion’s bloodline as a nephew of Lu Wen-teh, had it at five under going to his last seven holes only to falter with three of his four bogeys, including one on the infamous “Camel back” eighth.
Kang survived a wayward approach on the 18th when his ball landed on the left greenside bunker and remained on the lip because of a rake that was left there by an earlier group.
“I had a fast start with birdies and played solid,” Kang said. “I had a couple of good breaks coming down the stretch.”
Miñoza, meanwhile, started out slow and was at two over heading to hole No. 12 before he knocked down a birdie that touched off three more on his next five holes.
“I’m hitting it well, and if not for bad club judgment in my front nine, it would have been better,” said Miñoza, who won the local tour’s last event on the same East course in November.
Pucay had four birdies and just one bogey, also coming on the 16th.
Hong, a 23-year-old rookie from Cebu, became the surprise of the day among his local peers as he birdied the only two par-3s on the course—the 8th and the 16th—which were arguably the day’s two most difficult holes.
Yano, a veteran of the Japanese Tour playing here on a sponsor’s invite, was working on a four-under card going to his last three holes until he missed the green on the 16th and failed to save par from 10 feet.
Defending champion Berry Henson of the United States struggled to a 73 like Angelo Que, while last year’s second placer, Jay Bayron, shot a 75 and would need a special round today to get under the wire. Also a likely cutoff casualty is Artemio Murakami, who had a 78.
“I fired a couple of loose shots and you can’t afford to do that here,” Benson said. “There’s still a lot of golf left and anything under par in the last three rounds could still do it.”
Elmer Salvador, who won an all-Filipino version of this event in 2009 at Malarayat, Jonel Ababa and Ferdie Aunzo were the only Filipinos in a 13-man group that scored 72s.