Tabuena off to sizzling start, fizzles out

Philippines ace 10 shots adrift after 73

RIO DE JANEIRO – For the first nine holes, the Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena was among the best but he ended up one of the rest as the first round unfolded in cold and windy Olympic course in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The 21-year-old Tabuena, ranked fourth in Asia and one of the remaining Filipino athletes seeking to medal for a best-ever Philippine finish, came off bristling on the front side of the par-71 brand-new course, assembling a 33 to crowd the leaderboard. But he failed to sustain the fiery start with 40 on the backnine for a 73, 10 shots behind leader Marcus Fraser of Australia, who fired a 63.

The reigning Philippine Open champion parred the first two holes then birdied two of the next three. After five holes, he was at two-under, raising the hopes of Filipino sports officials who came to watch him play.

He held on to stay at minus-two after nine holes (33). No player in the opening day of men’s golf in this 2016 Rio Olympics did better than 31 on the front nine.

But Tabuena lost his grip with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 10 and 11. An easy par on the 12th kept him in check. He bogeyed the 13th but took the stroke back with a birdie on the next hole.

 He struggled coming home and bogeyed two of the last three holes. From two-under early in his round, Tabuena signed his scorecard at two-over 73.

“The first nine was good (putting). Then my putter started to cool off in the back nine. Like I said, my game isn’t in a good place now. I just can’t force things now,” Tabuena said.

“The conditions were really tough today (yesterday). It was very windy. Then I just couldn’t close many putts as I wanted to,” he added.

Fraser birdied five of the first six holes. After slowing down a bit, he fired three more birdies in the back nine, against a lone bogey on No. 2, for an impressive round of eight-under 63.

Canada’s Graham Delaet shared second place with Henrick Stenson, the reigning Open champion from Sweden, with identical rounds of five-under 66, three shots off the pace.

Five players were tied for fourth at 67, including Great Britain’s Justin Rose, who scored an Olympic hole-in-one on the 189-yard No. 4 using a 7-iron.

Fraser looked down the field all day, and warded them off, including Sergio Garcia of Spain, who hit some great shots, leading to the group of eight at 73, including Tabuena.

Also at 73 was Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champion, who wore pink gloves.

Tabuena, the only Filipino athlete who saw action Thursday, said he will not give up even if he’s 10 strokes off the leader. There are three more rounds left.

“I won’t give up for you guys,” he said.

Tabuena said the winds played a factor and hoped that teeing off at 7:52 a.m. Friday can make a little difference because of lighter winds in the morning.

Because no other Filipino athlete saw action Thursday, Filipino sports officials were out in full force at the course, led by Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco.

Jose Romasanta, chef-de-mission of Team Philippines here, walked a few holes and realized how tough the field is despite the absence of the world’s top players.

“You have Bubba Watson, Stenson, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. How can that be easy?” he said.

While Tabuena was swinging out on the course, the rest of the remaining Filipino athletes here were out training for their respective events.

Mary Joy Tabal will compete in women’s marathon on Aug. 14, followed by long jumper Marestella Torres Sunang and 400m hurdles entry Eric Cray on Aug. 16, then taekwondo jin Kirstie Elaine Alora on Aug. 20.

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who won the silver medal last Aug. 7, is back home enjoying her victory. She met President Duterte in Davao City and left with a P5 million check plus another pledge of P2 million from the President.

His father, Luigi, was on the course for 18 holes, joined by the Filipino swing coach, Joel Altea.

“This is certainly one of the biggest tournaments I played in besides the US Open. But this means a bit more. I don’t wear a sponsor’s logo on my shirt. I’m wearing the Philippine flag and that means so much more to me,” he said.

“He’s still there. He had two bad holes, two bad holes. But he’s still there,” he said, referring to Nos. 10 and 16 as the ones that really dragged Tabuena down.

“Those were birdied holes that he bogeyed. Actually that was a four-shot swing there, from two possible birdies to two bogeys,” he said.

Now he’s looking at a 10-shot deficit when he tees off at 7:52 a.m. with the same group – Roope Kakko of Finland (72) and Yuta Ikeda of Japan (74).

“That’s a long way to go. This is stroke play golf. You have three more days and I’ll just continue to grind tomorrow,” said Tabuena.