New Zealand’s Nick Voke rose to the challenge of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Masters Course at Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club the best today after shooting a five-under-par 65 to take the lead at the Philippine Open presented by Philippine Sports Commission.
Related: John Catlin wins Link Hong Kong Open
His first-round performance saw him lead from Thailand’s Nopparat Panichphol, who carded a 66, while his compatriots Tawit Polthai and Sarut Vongchaisit, Americans Kevin Na and Andy Ogletree, plus Jeongwoo Ham from Korea are joint third, following 67s.
The tournament is the season-ending event on the Asian Tour and will decide who wins the Order of Merit.
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The Merit list leader Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert took the first step to safely securing it with a 68, to lie in equal eighth. His nearest challengers Australian Travis Smyth and Jazz Janewattananond from Thailand shot rounds of 73 and 74 respectively and have a lot to do if they have any chance of toppling Pavit.
Smyth needs to finish in the top two, and Jazz simply needs a win – as long as Pavit finishes further down the leaderboard.
Voke is here off the back of his second best result on the Asian Tour, a joint fourth place finish in the Link Hong Kong Open, three weeks ago. A third place finish at the Shinhan Donghae Open in 2018 remains his best result.
He said: “Really good. Yeah, the course is really hard. There’s a lot of bogeys lurking around. A lot of trouble out there, giving you side eye, you know. And kept the ball in play and got lucky coming home. There we are.”
He started on the back nine and made his only bogey of the day on 12 before finding his rhythm and making birdies on 17 and 18. Further gains came on two, six, eight and nine.
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Currently sitting in 20th position on the Merit list he is on course for his best ever finish on the standings and when asked what his secret is this season, he joked: “If you could find the secret, please let me know, mate. I’ve been searching for years, and ah, the more I do other things, the easier golf seems to become. So, I’m just out there cruising around with my caddie and trying to enjoy it the most we can.”
The 32-year-old also highlighted what an inspiration Smyth has been to him.
“Trav has done some amazing things across multiple tours, and doors are opening up for him. And he’s a sensational golfer, and I look up to him. If I continue on the right path, doing the right things, I could get closer to what he’s doing. And so, look, the goal is to get in contention. Hopefully, win one next year.”
Nopparat is a two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour and playing here for the first time, although that did not show today.
“I like the course. It is a little bit narrow and a ball strikers course,” he said. “I found the fairways and found the greens. The pin positions were really tough, but I putted well and made 27 putts. I made some good par saves”
He started on the first, made seven pars in a row before finishing the outward nine with two birdies. On the homeward half he carded three birdies and one dropped shot.
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Na, the 43-year-old who is a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, is making his fourth appearance of the season on the Asian Tour. Having comfortably made the cut in the New Zealand, Macau and Hong Kong Opens he is well placed to continue the run in Opens this week.
He said: “I played pretty well today. The course can play quite difficult with these winds, and I felt like I played really solid.
“The winds were quite difficult to judge. I felt like these greens are hard to make putts, and you can easily misread short putts. I actually putted pretty well today, so I was pleased.”
