Albin Engino guns down four back nine birdies. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Bacolod native Albin Engino gunned down four back nine birdies to claim a piece of the lead with South Korea’s Hyun Ho Rho after a five-under-par 65 in the opening round of the P2.5 million ICTSI Bacolod Golf Challenge of the Philippine Golf Tour at the tree-lined layout formerly known as Binitin in Murcia town.
Growing up as a caddy at nearby Marapara, Engino had all parts of his game clicking in his latest bid to win for the first time as a pro, even as Rho, last year’s Q School medalist, used a hot start to carve out his version of a 65 as the duo held a one-shot lead over Aidric Chan and three others.
“There were so many good players that I just didn’t expect to be leading,” Engino said in Filipino after gunning down six birdies in a 34-31 effort. “Everything in my game was solid today, so I just waited for the birdies to come.”
Not an ideal start
Zanieboy Gialon, last week’s winner at Sta. Barbara who is seeking to win back-to-back titles for the first time, didn’t get the start that he wanted as two tee shots out of bounds at No. 1 doomed him to a 74 and needing a low second round to make the cut.
A lot of the lesser lights actually occupied a chunk of the top 10, with Randy Garalde, Reymon Jaraula and Ozeki Kakeru of Japan shooting 67s to be two behind.
Antonio Lascuña, the 54-year-old veteran, fired a 68 to be in the company of Jonel Ababa, Rupert Zaragosa and three others as a total of 26 players cracked par, counting former PH Open winner Angel Que, who turned in a 69 to be in an 11-man group. INQ