Singson has 1-shot lead at Highlands

Amateur Mafy Singson returned a birdie-less six-over-par 76 on Tuesday to grab the opening round lead in the ICTSI Highlands Ladies Challenge as brutal elements over the mountain layout bedeviled the lean field and sent scores soaring.

Singson, who also held the first round lead in the Aoki leg at Eagle Ridge won by Harmie Constantino last week, turned in a pair of 38s to lead Constantino, Sunshine Baraquiel and two others by a shot heading into the final 36 holes of the P750,000 event.

Strong winds and fog made the course doubly tough as one of the pretournament favorites, Chanelle Avaricio, had a triple-bogey, three double-bogeys and five bogeys in signing for an 81 that still kept her within five of the lead and with a solid shot going into the money rounds.

“I didn’t play so well,” said Singson. “The wind was really strong and I just tried to hit my ball in the fairway and tried to play with the wind.”

Constantino was also without a birdie and her 77 was littered with double-bogeys coming from each nine.

Laurea Duque, the second amateur who had the first round lead at Aoki, also fired a 77 like South Korea’s Jane Jeong, with Daniella Uy returning a 78 and Chihiro Ikeda tied with two others after a 79.

“I didn’t really hit my best but I managed to hold my score in the early going,” said Duque. “The course is playing tough for everyone so anything can happen.”

—Musong R. Castillo INQ