Bayron ties 3 foreigners for Pradera lead
LUBAO, Pampanga – Rufino Bayron carded a four-under 68 despite a late bogey yesterday and forged a fourway tie with three foreign aces in the opening of the ICTSI Pradera Verde Classic at the ICTSI Pradera Verde Classic here.
Bayron, seeking an end to a string of so-so finishes in the Philippine Golf Tour Asia, bucked the heat and the wind that bedeviled the games of the pre-tournament favorites to come up with a pair of 34s.
A missed-green bogey on No. 16 was the only blot to an otherwise brilliant round.
That enabled Aussies Andrew Campbell and David Gleeson and Lexus Keoninh of the US to make it a crowded leaderboard with Jay Bayron, James Ryan Lam, Orlan Sumcad, Americans John Michael O’Toole and Nicolas Paez and Dutch Guido Van der Valk shooting identical 69s.
Jobim Carlos and Keanu Jahns churned out a pair of 70s in tough condition at the 7315-yard flat to stay in early contention in the $100,000 event serving as the seventh leg of the region’s newest circuit sponsored by ICTSI.
Except for Jhonnel Ababa, last week’s winner at Eagle Ridge, and Riviera titlist Clyde Mondilla, the three other PGTA leg winners found Pradera’s length too tough to overcome with Wack Wack champion Tony Lascuña settling for a one-birdie, one-bogey round (72) and Splendido winner Rene Menor and CAT Open titlist Justin Quiban groping for 73s.
“The course is too long, made tougher by the wind on some holes. It’s for the long hitters. I tried to offset it with my iron game but could only settle for regulation pars,” rued the 48-yearold Lascuña, winner of Tuesday’s pro-am.
As the power-hitting Campbell, Gleeson and Keoninh took charge midway through the day, Rufino Bayron, the former amateur hotshot who last won in 2015 at Orchard, sneaked into the lead with birdies on Nos. 3, 5, 10, 13 and 14, only to fall with a flubbed par-putt on the 16th.