Long off the tees and precise with his approaches, Justin Quiban assembled a sizzling seven-under-par 65 on Wednesday to zoom to a share of the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Challenge lead with Michael Bibat halfway through the P2 million event at the vast complex’ Aoki course in General Trias, Cavite province.
Quiban, a two-time winner on the Philippine Golf Tour, gunned down nine birdies and had two bogeys in the best round of the week as he erased the stigma of an inconsistent opening 75 for a 140 aggregate heading into the final 36 holes.
Bibat fired a second straight 70 and said that he will not move away from his game plan since day one.
Zannie Boy Gialon and the veteran Richard Sinfuego returned a 69 and 66, respectively, to be a shot down on the joint leaders. They were three ahead of the dangerous Miguel Tabuena, who carved out a 71 on a humid, windy day even as first round Joenard Rates shot himself in the foot with a 76 to fall five shots off the pace.
“I really hit it good compared to [Tuesday]—off the tee, iron and wedge shots,” said Quiban, who tied for fifth and 11th in the two ICTSI Riviera events late last year.
Angelo Que, another former PH Open champion in the field like Tabuena and Frankie Miñoza, shot a 73 and was nine down, still in the hunt but needing to gain huge third round ground to matter on Saturday.