Shin lights up familiar Apo course with fiery 66, leads by 3
DAVAO CITY – Micah Shin returned to familiar ground at Apo Golf and Country Club here and made it look like his own playground, carding a 66 to seize the first-round lead in the ICTSI Apo Golf Classic and threaten to turn another Philippine Golf Tour nail-biter into a runaway.
Armed with intimate knowledge of the tight, exacting layout and a game honed by campaigns abroad, Shin made the most of his home-course advantage, stringing together birdies with precision and purpose to establish a commanding cushion over a field loaded with the circuit’s top guns.
He held a three-shot lead over last week’s South Pacific leg winner Clyde Mondilla, who bounced back from a frontside 36 with four birdies, including one on the 18th, against a lone bogey at the back for a 69. A slew of pursuers shared third place with 70s, including Sean Ramos, Russell Bautista, local journeyman Ramil Bisera, Paul Echavez, Jeremy Tandoy, Dino Villanueva and Korean Kim Tae Soo.
The local top guns, who gave Mondilla a spirited challenge at South Pacific, found the Apo layout far more challenging. Jeffren Lumbo, Elee Bisera and James Ryan Lam and American Collin Wheeler matched 71s, while Justin Quiban, Angelo Que and Jhonnel Ababa, stood at joint 14th with amateur Jacob Rolida and Alexander Bisera with identical 72s.
It was only the opening round, but the manner of Shin’s charge hinted at a different script for a tour that has thrived on suspense, late surges and razor-thin margins. Each of the last six tournaments had been decided by just one or two strokes, while the last two editions at Apo went to sudden death.
Shin, however, wasted little time putting daylight between himself and the chasing pack.
“To be honest, I made a lot of easy birdies today, which made scoring well easier. I didn’t miss many fairways. I hit some bad shots, too, but I managed to recover and save par,” said Shin, one of the club invites making the most of his opportunity.
“I’m really thankful to Apo for inviting me to play. I grew up and trained here, so it’s fun to compete on my home course. I’ve moved to Korea, but I still come back whenever I have time to practice,” Shin added.
He admitted that he was still far from his best form following a series of underwhelming performances on the Asian Tour, but the familiarity of the course gave him a much-needed confidence boost.
“I’m not feeling my best, but I’m pretty confident here because it’s my home course,” he said.
Making his first PGT appearance this year since capturing his second title at The Country Club Invitational last January, the reed-thin Korean-American also benefited from an early tee time, taking advantage of the relatively benign conditions before the heat intensified.
He birdied four of his first nine holes, quickly finding his rhythm and turning his familiarity with the course into a scoring advantage. While the local aces tried to match his early pace, Shin kept pressing, showing the kind of control and confidence that made him one of the standout players on the Asian Tour.
His decisive burst came at the back where Shin rattled off three straight birdies from No. 13 to reach seven-under for the day, stretching his lead to a commanding five strokes over Ramil Bisera and putting the rest of the field under immediate pressure.
But he faltered at the finish, pulling his tee shot into the left bunker on the par-3 17th. He blasted out to within two feet, only to miss the putt.
“I missed a short putt on the 17th, but I mean the greens are so pretty tough,” he said.
The strong starts by the homegrown challengers underscored the quality of the opposition Shin had to contend with, but none could sustain the pace he set.
Still, no advantage is safe at Apo, where the course’s exacting demands can quickly turn a comfortable lead into a tense chase. Shin’s four-shot cushion is huge, but with three rounds remaining, the PGT’s proven winners have ample time to mount a response.
For Shin, the opening 66 offers an encouraging reset after a pair of recent Asian Tour outings that yielded mixed results. He tied for 19th in Macau before finishing joint 54th in Hong Kong last week, but back on a layout he knows intimately, he looked every bit the player capable of dictating the tournament’s pace.
His familiarity with Apo, however, is only part of the equation. Against a field packed with the PGT’s aces, Shin combined local knowledge with sharp execution and a fearless attacking game to deliver an emphatic early statement.
The challenge now is to sustain that form and keep the pursuers at bay. At a venue known for dramatic finishes, Shin has given himself a head start few could have expected to match.
“No change of game plan but if I just don’t make bogeys, yeah, I think I’ll shoot really low again,” he said.
For one day, at least, there was no place like home. TMT
