Sumcad shows up elite field with 69, leads by 1

ORLAN SUMCAD

Unfancied Orlan Sumcad outgunned the tour’s top guns in a windy day at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club, firing an eagle-spiked three-under par 69 and seizing a one-stroke lead over Marlon Dizon at the start of the ICTSI Classic in Lipa, Batangas, Tuesday.
Sumcad, one of the tour’s long hitters still in search of a breakthrough win, leaned on a fiery birdie-birdie-eagle binge from No. 7 to take control but missed posting a two-shot lead with a final hole bogey mishap.
“I hit the bunker on the 18th and failed to save par,” said Sumcad, a consistent Top 10 placer but never a winner on the ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour, in Filipino.
Still, Sumcad’s 33-36 card was enough to propel him to the top of a star-studded field, majority of whom got knocked off by the dreaded Malarayat wind that bedeviled the games of even those who teed off early in the day.
That included Juvic Pagunsan, who was coming off a run of under-par scores to win the kickoff leg of the circuit at Royal Northwoods last Friday but who turned in a mind-boggling 11-over 83 in perhaps his worst start in any tournament.
Dizon also eagled the par-5 No. 9, his final hole, as he found himself in solo second with a two-under 70 while teener Miguel Tabuena led a six-player group that carded a 71.
“My goal going into this tournament is to just come out with an even par performance,” said Dizon, who has limited himself to playing in a maximum of five tournaments a year to focus on his family’s engineering business.
Tabuena turned an impending fold-up into a big surge as he birdied two of the last three holes at the front to be in the mix of players chasing the top P200,000 purse in the 54-hole tournament sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
Tony Lascuna, Elmer Saban, Erwin Vinluan, Arnold Villacencio and amateur Zanie Boy Gialon all had one-under par cards while Frankie Minoza and Angelo Que matched par 72s for a share of ninth, three strokes off the pace.
Other even par scorers wer Jun Bernis, brand new pro Dante Becierra, Omar Dungca, Gerald Rosales, Rufino Bayron and Jobim Carlos, winner of the low amateur honors at Northwoods.
Artemio Murakami, the reigning Philippine Open champion, and Marvin Dumandan, two of the players tipped to contend for this week’s crown, hobbled with a pair of 73s to fall into a tie with Richard Sinfuego, Juanito Pagunsan, Peter Villaber, Jhonnel Ababa, Danny Zarate and Cookie La’O.
Dutch Guido Van der Valk, who finished second to Elmer Salvador in the all-peso Phl Open here in 2009, also struggled with a 75, one shot behind the group Cassius Casas, Ramil Bisera, Ebarra Quiachon, Erwin Arcillas and Ernie Rellon, who all had 74s.
But the biggest casualty proved to be Juvic Pagunsan, who bogeyed the first six holes at the front in eerie fashion. He dropped another shot No. 8 then holed out with a birdie on the ninth.
That stood as his first and last birdie in the day as the veteran internationalist made another four-bogey string from No. 11 and dropped another shot on the 18th for a 42-41 card.
In contrast, Sumcad birdied the opening hole then bucked a bogey-bogey misfortune from No. 4 with a sizzling closing stint at the front that saw him birdie Nos. 7 and 8 before holing out with an eagle on the ninth.
He fumbled with another bogey on No. 11 but birdied two of the next three holes to take a two-shot lead over Dizon before dropping a shot on the 18th.PR