Bayrons wrest control; Lascuña, Tabuena falter

BACOLOD, Philippines – Brothers Rufino and Jay Bayron rode on a pair of explosive frontside windup and took the 1-2 posts with 63 and 65, respectively, as Tony Lascuña and Miguel Tabuena could only card 69s at the start of the ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club.

Lascuña, coming off a three-leg win, failed to sustain a three-birdie string from No. 5 and stumbled with three bogeys against one more birdie and Tabuena, back in the fold after a two-month stint abroad, also mixed four birdies against three bogeys despite ideal playing conditions at the tight, hazard-laden par-70 layout.

Clyde Mondilla, back-to-back winner at Eastridge and Calatagan, outgunned Lascuña and Tabuena in the featured flight, recovering from an opening hole bogey with six birdies, including on the par-5 18th to card a 65.

But that still put the rising Del Monte star two strokes off Rufino Bayron, who rattled off five birdies coming home at the front to string nines of 30-33 for a seven-under card and wrest control five days after missing the cut at Binitin.

It was indeed a big rebound by the former Asian Development Tour winner at Orchard in 2014 as he grabbed a two-stroke lead over Jay, a consistent top five finisher in the last five legs of the circuit sponsored by ICTSI, Jay gunned down four birdies to complete a 31-34 round and lead four others with five-under cards, including Mondilla, Zanieboy Gialon, Joenard Rates and Dutch Guido Van der Valk.

Gialon missed grabbing solo second with a bogey on No. 8, settling for a 33-32; Rates, seeking a follow-up to his maiden win in Baguio in 2012, birdied his first three holes at the front then added two more on Nos. 9 and 12 to complete a bogey-free 31-34 round; while Van der Valk, who lost in a three-man playoff at Binitin won by Lascuña over the weekend, also joined the birdie-binge at the short frontside, ramming in four to likewise post a 31-34 start.

“My game was a bit off but I played with what I had. A lot of birdies out there and I got impatient,” said Tabuena, also priming up for next month’s Olympic Games in Brazil. “But it’s still a long way to go. Anything can happen.”

Twenty-two others turned in under-par cards as the men of the tour gave the short layout some beating with Korean Park Jun Song shooting a pair of 33s to lead the 66 scorers, who included American Micah Shin, the other playoff loser in the last leg of the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., who shot a solid 32-34, Anthony Fernando, who also came through with two 33s, Richard Abaring, who also sizzled with a 31 at the front but settled for a run of pars at the back, and Cassius Casas, who fought back from a bogey on the par-5 No. 2 with five birdies in a six-hole stretch from No. 5.

Marvin Dumandan, former leg winner Charles Hong and amateur Chepe Dulay all shot 67s for joint 12th while Ferdie Aunzo, Ramil Bisera, Nelson Huerva, Gherome Malaga and rookie pro Justin Quiban fired identical 68s.

Tabuena, who ruled the pro-am and vowed to use his power off the tee of the short par-4s for a strong start in the P1.5 million tournament, hit birdies on three par-4s but also made bogeys in three of them, needing to birdie to the last hole to join Lascuña, Mars Pucay, Orlan Sumcad, Joseph Labajo, Michael Bibat, Jhonnel Ababa, Mhark Fernando and Korean Anthony Kim at 20th place.

Lascuña, who opted for a fairway-green approach on the tricky layout, bogeyed No. 3 but strung up three straight birdies from No. 5, only to stumble with back-to-back bogeys on holes linking both nines. After a run of pars, the former three-time Order of Merit winner, who swept the Eagle Ridge, Forest Hills and Binitin legs in varying fashions, knocked in a six-footer for birdie on No. 17 for a 34-35 card.