Tabuena at cellar, 20 shots off the pace

RIO DE JANEIRO – A string of bogeys very early in the third round Saturday halted Filipino golfer Miguel Tabuena’s bid to gain ground on his nearest competitors and for a decent finish in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Tabuena still felt some pain on his right shoulder but came out for his 7:41 a.m. flight proudly wearing the Philippine flag. He had wide strips of muscle tape almost covering half his arm.

Again, the reigning Philippine Open champion tried hard to score low. He hasn’t broken par at the Olympic Golf Course here in three rounds. In the final round, he will try again.

“One more day tomorrow,” said Tabuena after another two-over-par 73. He had a similar score in the opening round then followed it up with a four-over 75.

Tabuena now has a 221 total and is way, way off the lead pack.

Tabuena is just too far behind to think of who’s in front.

Justin Rose of Great Britain came out of the day as the new leader. He shot two eagles and four birdies against two bogeys for a six-under 65 and a 201 total.

Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, will shoot for the Olympic gold but is just one stroke ahead of reigning British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden (68), and three up on two-day leader Marcus Fraser of Australia (72).

It’s not going to be easy.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson of the United States is coming from behind, firing his second straight to be at 207, six strokes off the pace, while Rickie Fowler, also from the US, had the day’s best round of 64, with an eagle, seven birdies and two bogeys (201).

The 21-year-old Tabuena bogeyed the second, third and fourth holes, touching off another frustrating round at the 7,162-yard links course. He had consecutive birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 but committed two more bogeys on the 13th and 15. He parred the rest of the holes.

After yet another below-par round, Tabuena stood in 56th place, among 60 entries from three dozen countries. He enters the final round Sunday with another chance.

“Today, I enjoyed a bit more, and tomorrow I will enjoy all of it because it is my last round tomorrow and the Olympics is every four years and I’m happy to be part of it,” he said.

Tabuena complained of pain on his right shoulder after the second round, had it treated by Filipino chiropractor Martin Camara and hoped to do better on the course.

It hardly changed a bit.

“The shoulder is better but I’m still in pain and it still bothers me. But it’s not as bad as before,” added the young veteran of the 2016 US Open.

Tabuena carried the pressure of winning a medal to the fairway, and couldn’t get the result he had dreamed of in the weeks and days leading to the Olympics.

His caddie from Baguio City, Casey Besset, said Tabuena has not been getting the breaks out in the open course, a links course.

“He puts his drives on the fairway but can’t get the breaks on his second shots,” said Besset.

The big guns made their move on a day that was far better than the opening round, which was too windy, and the second, when a downpour in the morning made it tougher for the 60-man field.

Tabuena said there’s no plan to quit even if playing with the hurting shoulder may jeopardize his chances in a few more tournaments toward the end of the year.

“I don’t really like it when I play in pain. For me, if I’m in pain I already pull the plug right away because it’s too risky. I have more tournaments at the end of the year. But this is the Olympics. It’s hard to give up,” he said.

Tabuena had high expectations heading to Rio, and thought that a solid start and some luck can put him in medal contention as golf makes a comeback in the Olympics after 112 years.

“The first day I put too much pressure to myself, as well as the second day. I tried to shoot a low number. And if you try too hard in golf you can go haywire,” he said.

But the three bogeys early in the round, a three-putt from 45 feet on the second and then on missed greens on the others, slowed him down.