Pole position stayed with Thai Sarit Suwannarut, but the day belonged to homeboy Miguel Tabuena.
On the course he called home, with his adoring family, compatriots and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson watching, Tabuena holed in an incredible ace that fueled his rise to second spot in the International Series presented by BingoPlus yesterday.
Using an 8-iron, Tabuena, a Sta. Elena Golf Club ‘baby’ through and through, drove his tee shot on the 171-yard, par-3 14th hole with laser precision, the ball landing inches to the pin, taking a bounce then graciously rolling into the cup.
The crowd erupted in jubilation.
He followed that spectacular hole-in-one with a well-celebrated eagle on No. 16, which, combined with four birdies against a lone bogey, greased Tabuena’s second-round seven-under 65 for a 36-hole card of 134.
The local hero, who opened with a 69, trailed pole Suwannarut, who kept pole position at 130 after a follow up 66 to his sizzling opener of 64, heading into Round 3.
‘It’s been six years since I last had one (ace), and second in a competition so it was nice that it was here, in front of friends, family and my home club,’ said Tabuena.
The ace didn’t register until he got congratulatory gestures from people around and Johnson, his decorated flight-mate in the morning sessions, himself.
‘I didn’t see it go in.I just heard the crowd go wild and Dustin said it’s in,’ he shared.
More than producing the round’s highlight reel, roaring into contention from his previous spot at joint 23rd was hugely satisfying for the 31-year-old Pinoy.
‘It was a pretty solid round and the plan was to get back in position for moving day,’ he said. ‘There’s still a lot of golf to play, we can’t get ahead of ourselves and be too complacent. There are two more days to go, I have to stick to the game plan, recover and go at it again (today).’
Oblivious to Tabuena’s mighty charge, Suwannarut birdied seven and dropped just one to post a 66 in his afternoon flight and keep the lead at 130.
Tabuena and Japanese Kazuki Higa (66) are four adrift.
One shot back at 131 were Japanese Yosuke Asaji (66), Korean Soomin Lee (67), Taiwanese Wang Hei-hsuan (67) and Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung (67).
Angelo Que zoomed to a share of fourth at 135 – a manageable five off the Thai pacesetter – after matching Tabuena’s 65.
Que 46, fired eight birdies, including three in his last four holes, to make his jump.