Quiban exits in PGA Tour debut but vows to come back

MANILA, Philippines – Justin Quiban closed out his PGA Tour debut the way he started it — with a 73 — as he missed the cut by six in the 3M Open paced by Canadian Adam Hadwin and Ryan Armour of the US in Blaine, Minnesota Friday (Saturday, Manila time).

The 25-year-old Filipino had a decent one-birdie, one-bogey start at backside of the TPC Twin Cities Golf Club but like in the first round, he hobbled with three bogeys against a birdie in the first nine holes for another 37-36.

With a four-over 146 total, Quiban ended up tied at 129th in a field of 156, too way off for a crack for a spot in the weekend play of the $6.6 million event. But he relished every hole he had played in his first foray on the world’s premier men’s golf stage.

“It took me a while to get used to everything,” said Quiban, who made it to the event with a third place effort in last Monday’s Qualifier after surviving the 20-man cut in the pre-elims. “I was kind of getting overwhelmed with everything – with the set-up and seeing the big players.”

“After the first few holes, I started to get my groove back and starting to get comfortable with the (golf) course,” he added.

The two-time Philippine Golf Tour winner hardly improved on his iron play, hitting just 10 of 18 greens in regulation after missing half of them Thursday.

He actually escaped with a good bogey after reaching the par-4 No. 11 in four but after a string of routine pars, marred by three flubbed birdie chances from 11 feet, he banged in a 10-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th.

Two solid shots enabled Quiban to reach the 596-yard par-5 18th but three-putted for par, missing a heartbreaker of a four-footer for birdie.

He missed the green again on the long 501-yard par-4 No. 3 and two-putted for another bogey and yielded a stroke again on the par-3 No. 4 on another three-putt miscue from 25 feet.

He did recover on the next by rolling in an improbable birdie putt from 33 feet out but after three pars, including a missed birdie putt from 15 feet on the par-5 sixth, he drove into a waste bunker on the par-4 No. 9, hit his second shot to the left side of the fairway, reached the green in three and two-putted.

“Unfortunately, my game wasn’t as I hoped it would be,” said Quiban. “I kind of know what to do, what to figure out. I’m just excited to get back at it.”

“But I’m still pretty young, I still have so much room to improve. Seeing all these guys out there, I feel I can keep up with these guys. They are really like nice people, just give me a couple of years and I can be back here. I can still compete,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hadwin and Armour matched outputs for the second straight day, this time producing 65s to stay ahead of the pack with 132s. But four players stood just a shot behind, including Americans Bo Hoag (66) and Chez Reavie (67), Jhonattan Vegas (69) of Venezuela and Roger Sloan (69) of Canada, who pooled identical 133s.

If for any Quiban consolation, world No. 2 Dustin Johnson joined him in the sidelines with a 142 after a 72. Other notables who missed the cut at 140 were Matt Kuchar (72-141), Ryan Moore (67-141), Stewart Cink (73-142) and Steve Stricker (79-148).