Miki Ryoma fired a four-under-par 66 under excruciating heat on Wednesday to take a one-shot lead at the halfway mark of the P2.5 million ICTSI Iloilo Golf Challenge as he moved 36 good holes away from realizing a dream.
The 35-year-old Japanese, who wears a bowtie during tournaments, thus became the first foreigner in the circuit to lead a PGT leg this season, and getting a shot at a breakthrough win like this comes a full decade after he finished second to Antonio Lascuña at Eagle Ridge.
He takes a 134 aggregate into the third round as he tries to fend off Jonel Ababa, who fired a 68 to be a shot behind, and a slew of tested campaigners led by former Philippine Open champion Clyde Mondilla, multi-leg winners Reymon Jaraula and Rupert Zaragosa and the champ last week at Marapara, Art Arbole.
‘I didn’t play steady in the first round but hit it solid today,’ the Saitama native said. ‘I hit all fairways, reached all greens and made five birdies against one bogey.’
Jaraula and Mondilla fired 68s to be two shots off like Ira Alido, who submitted a day-best 65 to wheel into solid contention and put an opening 71 behind.
Arbole, who broke through after 14 years in Bacolod last week, returned a 67 for 137, in the company of Francis Morilla, who also shot a 67, and Zaragosa, who assembled a 69.
‘The course is really playing tough,’ the 42-year-old Ababa, who is playing for the memory of departed wife Mailyn, said in Filipino as he is trying to bounce back from a final round meltdown in Bacolod.
Mondilla, who was part of a four-way tie for the lead at the middle of the second round together with Jaraula and Ryoma, dropped two shots late in his round that threw away a four-under-par card.
Kristoffer Arevalo shot a 67 to lead a four-man pack made up of James Ryan Lam, Jeff Lumbo and Lakewood leg winner Justin Quiban at 138. Lam and Lumbo fired 69s, while Quiban, after opening with a cold 72, bounced back with a 66.