Ramos, Suzuki, 3 more local aces four shots behind Englishman Plumb

Sean Ramos—CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The talented BingoPlus Philippine Asian Development Tour (ADT) Open field took advantage of the lift-clean-and-place rule, with an intrepid band of local aces led by Sean Ramos and amateur Shin Suzuki making sure that foreigners don’t run away with the title this early.

England’s Thomas Plumb hit all the greens in regulation on the way to gunning down all of his eight birdies inside his last 16 holes for an eight-under-par 64 that was good for a one-shot lead over Su Ching-Hung of Chinese Taipei and another stroke ahead of four other internationals.

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“It was a good day right from the start really,” Plumb, who has seen some action on the DP World Tour, said. “It [hitting all the greens] kind of made the day a little easier.

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“I actually got off to a slow start, but the birdies just kept coming in after [pars on Nos. 1 and 2].”

Su also had eight birdies but failed to rescue par after missing the 18th green—his ninth hole—as Plumb got ahead of him after the Englishman picked up his last birdie on the 16th about two hours after the Taiwanese’s round.

“The course is very long, but [the preferred lies rule] helped me a lot,” the 24-year-old Su said even as Ryan Lam, Jeff Lumbo and Fidel Concepcion also fired 68s like Ramos and Suzuki to keep the leaders within striking distance entering the second round on Thursday.

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“I was hitting OK to mediocre shots,” Ramos, who lost in a three-man playoff in Malaysia last month, said of his slow start.

“And then I started to get hot after I made bogey on (No.) 8,” he went on. “I made a 15-footer [for birdie] and then gained a little more confidence and momentum.”

Ramos blasted out of the greenside trap for eagle on the 12th to highlight his round and have needed momentum going into the next as he tries to creep closer to the top.

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