The Philippines drew sub-par rounds from Kristoffer Arevalo and Jacob Rolida to share sixth place at the start of the 29th Nomura Cup golf team championship at the Manila Southwoods’ Masters course in Carmona, Cavite Tuesday.
Arevalo opened with a two-under-par 70 while Rolida turned in a 71 as the Filipinos finished the day on 3-under, six shots behind pacesetting Australia.
Save for four consecutive bogeys at the back, Arevalo said he thought that his Nomura Cup debut went well.
“I missed some par-saving putts and three-putted some holes,” said Arevalo who reached the turn on 5-under following a hot start of five birdies.
But he bogeyed 13, 14, 15, and 16 before capping his round with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
“I’ll stick to my plan to attack all holes until the end of the tournament,” Arevalo said.
In the individual race, Arevalo is four shots off three players sharing the lead — Jack Buchanan of Australia, Areephun Arsit of Thailand and James Leow of Singapore.
Rolida made a good account of himself in his first tournament wearing the Philippine colors.
He rallied with three birdies coming home after a jittery start of one birdie against three bogeys.
Elee Bisera, another first-timer, shot a 72 following a roller-coaster round of five birdies against three bogeys and a double bogey.
Australia surged to the top of the leaderboard on 9-under-par 135, thanks to Buchanan’s 66 and Quinnton Bryce Croker’s 69.
Singapore was in solo second on 7-under through Leow’s 66 and Ryan John Ang’s 71.
Tied for third on 6-under were Chinese-Taipei and Japan.
Scoring for Chinese-Taipei were Su Chung-Hung who carded a 68 and Hung Chao-Hsin who had a 70.
Japan, on the other hand, scored through Yuta Sugiura (67) and Minato Oshima (71).
Rounding out the team standings:
Thailand 139, Philippines 141, South Korea 141, New Zealand 141, Malaysia 141, India 144, Hong Kong 145, Indonesia 148, Pakistan 154, Guam 157, United Arab Emirates 169 and Mongolia 176.
