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Angelo
Que found himself on the brink of elimination with a
disastrous six-over par 78, but compatriot Gerald
Rosales took up the cudgels with a three-under-par 69 to
stay four strokes behind joint leaders Chinnarat
Phadungsil of Thailand and Iain Steel of Malaysia in the
first round of the Pine Valley Beijing Open in China on
Thursday.
Phadungsil and Steel shot identical 65s. Tony Carolan of
Australia occupied solo second with a 66 in the Asian
Tour tournament played at the Pine Valley Golf Club in
Beijing.
Que, the
Philippine Open champion, got into trouble early with a
double bogey in the par-four fourth hole and bogeys in
the next two. A birdie in the eighth somehow restored
order in his round. In the back nine, however, Que
dropped three shots on Nos. 14, 15 and 17 for a 39-39
card.
In
contrast, Rosales had eight birdies, including a string
of four from the 15th for that 69 that gave him a share
of 13th place with nine others.
Artemio
Murakami was the next best Filipino scorer with a 71,
while Antonio Lascuna churned in a 73.
“I am
happy today because this was the most productive round,
in terms of birdies, for me this year. Still, I have to
keep my bogeys to a minimum,” Rosales told the
BusinessMirror.
Lascuna,
on the other hand, said: “All I have to do is shoot a
nice under-par round tomorrow and I’ll be fine. Making
the cut would be my priority.” |
