Richard Abaring rebounded from an early bogey mishap with a string of birdies as he turned in a three-under 69 to wrest a two-stroke lead over Charles Hong at the start of the 2019 PGT Qualifying School at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Laurel, Batangas yesterday.
Abaring hit a pair of back-to-back birdies in a seven-hole stretch from No. 4 to negate a bogey on the tough par-4 third of the challenging layout then parred the rest of the holes to string a 34-35 round and set the pace in the 72-hole elims that offers 50-plus ties berths for next year’s Philippine Golf Tour.
Hong, a former leg winner but missed the top 40 ranking for automatic cards by five rungs, gunned down three birdies but fumbled with two bogeys, the last on the 18th that netted him the only other under-par card (71) produced in hot conditions at the rolling layout.
Marvin Dumandan bogeyed the last two holes to drop to 74 in a tie with Rey Pagunsan and Erwin Arcillas while Miko Alejandro blew a 34 frontside start with a closing 41 for a 75, the same output put in by Jet Mathay, Francis Morilla and Alfredo Repato Jr., who also squandered an impressive 35 with a backside 40.
Nelson Huerva, Nico Evangelista and former Masters champion Rodrigo Cuello all scored 77s while Chris delos Santos, Jelbert Gamolo, Benjie Magada and Jun Bernis groped for identical 78s.
Half of the starting 90-player field were still playing at press time with the top 70 players after 36 holes to advance to the final two rounds. The top 50 plus ties will earn Category 5 status and the rest settling for Category 7 of the 2019 PGT starting fields.
