Philippines' friends continue to lead

in World Cup Asian Qualifier

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR.
Petaling Jaya , Malaysia , August 27: Mars Pucay and Angelo Que of the Philippines stayed in command at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup Asian Qualifier after a one-over-par 72 in the foursomes today.
The leading duo, who credited their strong friendship for their successful combination, saw their overnight four-shot lead trimmed to three strokes after Singaporean’s Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat battled to the day’s best of 71 in the alternate shot format.
David Freeman and Wong Woon Man of Hong Kong continued their impressive run to remain in contention for one of the three tickets to the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China later in November after posting a battling 72 to lie in third position, six off the pace.
Malaysia ’s Iain Steel and Danny Chia and the Myanmar partnership of Zaw Moe and Soe Kyaw Naing share fourth position after rounds of 74 and 73 respectively at the par-71 course.
Pucay and Que, playing together for the second consecutive year, said their relaxed attitude has been the key to their strong combination. “I don’t know what makes us good partners, probably because we are good players,” Que joked.
“It is our relationship on the golf course because every time we are on the course, it is not always about golf, we talk about other things. It really goes down to the two players as you have to be comfortable with each other,” added Que, a two-time Asian Tour winner.
They combined for two birdies against three bogeys, which included two dropped shots in their last three holes, but Pucay was delighted to remain on course with their two-day score of 10-under-par 132.
“The foursomes format is tough because you might miss a shot but we have a good relationship and we talk about movies and games which my son and Angelo play on their PSP (playstation portable),” said Pucay, who finished in the top-10 at the World Cup with Que last year.
Mardan and Lam, who are chasing their fourth appearance in the World Cup, started their round strongly with four birdies on their outward nine but stumbled coming home with two bogeys and one double bogey on the final hole.
“If you’ve given us 71 at the start of the day, we would have been happy to take it. On this course, you have to get the birdies early and try to hang on at the end. We have to figure out how to play the last six holes,” said Lam the winner of the 2008 Volvo Masters of Asia in Thailand .
Mardan added: “In foursomes, you don’t want to hit a shot that lets your partner suffer in the next shot. But everyone make mistakes and you don’t have to feel sorry for each other. If we can get a low score tomorrow, it’ll make things easier for the final day.”
Freeman, who now focuses on his teaching professional job in Hong Kong , and Wong continued their dream run and are confident of maintaining their form.
“I told Wong earlier that each time I come here, I have a strong first day but the second day always lets us down. Wong played well again and my game picked up so we worked it quite well. There are a few tricky holes out there but if we play like today we should be fine and will be looking forward to qualify,” said Freeman.
Veteran Moe has not played in the World Cup before and he will be aiming to be third time lucky this week. He and Soe were going strongly before dropping four shots in their last five holes to lie on 140.
“I haven’t played in the World Cup before but my partner has more experience! I really want to get through but we have to minimize on some silly mistakes,” said the 42-year-old.
“We were two-under after 13 holes and dropped a few shots at the end. Each of us made mistakes but other than that we were alright. We will try to shoot five or six-under in tomorrow’s four-ball,” added Moe.
The Omega Mission Hills World Cup Asian Qualifier is supported by One World Hotel, Srixon and 100Plus.

Round two results
132 – Philippines (Mars PUCAY, Angelo QUE) 60-72
135 – Singapore (LAM Chih Bing, Mardan MAMAT) 64-71
138 – Hong Kong (David FREEMAN, WONG Woon Man) 66-72
140 – Malaysia (Danny CHIA, Iain STEEL) 66-74
140 – Myanmar (Zaw MOE, Soe Kyaw NAING) 67-73
141 – Pakistan (Muhammad SHABBIR, Muhammad MUNIR) 68-73
143 – Bangladesh (Milon AHMED, Siddikur RAHMAN) 69-74
146 – Indonesia (Maan NASIM, SARMILIH) 69-77
147 – Sri Lanka (Lalith KUMARA, Anura ROHANA) 70-77
150 – Nigeria Christian UTUBOR, Edet UMOH) 70-80
151 – Brunei Faiz DAMIT, Pengiran HASSANAL) 74-77
155 – Ghana (Theophilus KODJO, Emos KORBLAH) 74-81
166 – Mauritius (Rajesh MOHUN, Jocelyn SAVRIMOOTOO) 77-89
166 – Nepal (Ramesh NAGARKOTI, Pashupati SHARMA) 82-84

Note: The first and third rounds will use the four-ball format while the second and final rounds will use the foursomes format.