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Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines plays a shot during the International Series Qatar golf tournament at the Doha Golf Club in Doha on November 30, 2024.
Karim Jaafar / AFP
MANILA, Philippines — Miguel Tabuena made the most of a rare Major opportunity, seizing the moment with a brilliant six-under 64 to be right in the mix after the first round of the International Series Macau on Thursday.
Former US Masters champion Patrick Reed’s solid play in the afternoon wave netted him a 63 at the Macau Golf and Country Club, dislodging the Filipino ace from the top of the $2-million championship of the series held under the Asian Tour banner.
Reed, who wound up fourth here last year, capped his brilliant round with birdies on Nos. 16 and 18, edging past Tabuena, who had led for most of the day, Peter Uihlein and Kalle Samooja.
“It was a steady day,” said Reed, a member of 4Aces GC on the LIV Golf League. “I wasn’t feeling that great when I first got up. Mainly my body was a little tight, but it loosened up nicely on the range.”
Tabuena shook off the effects of an early wake-up call and an uncharacteristic missed one-foot putt on his first hole for bogey on No. 10 to set the pace early on.
“I woke up at 3:45 a.m., got in the gym at 4:10 a.m. Did some stretching, did some activation stuff, yeah, but it’s routine. The game feels really good except for my three putt on the first hole, which was No. 10. Missed it from a foot. So that was pretty funny. I just laughed it out.”
He actually turned serious, hitting birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 18 after gunning down a birdie on the 11th and dropping another shot on No. 14.
Sustaining his charge, his came through with a pair of back-to-back birdie feats from Nos. 3 and 7 to put himself in early contention.
“My game’s in a good spot, but it’s still very early in the tournament. There’s three more days, and hopefully I can continue this form,” said Tabuena, who is chasing not just his fourth Asian Tour title but also one of the three coveted spots in The Open Championship in Northern Ireland this July.
Taking advantage of an early tee time and calm conditions, the Filipino ace delivered a near-flawless performance, positioning himself ahead of a world-class field.
Hitting 10 fairways and 15 greens, Tabuena’s precision play kept him in contention, but it was his short game that truly shone. Despite a three-putt bogey on his opening hole on No. 10, he needed just 27 putts overall, including a superb birdie conversion on the par-3 11th. Even when he found trouble, such as on No. 1, he scrambled to save par.
With a $2-million prize purse on the line in the second leg of the 10-event International Series, a pathway to the LIV Golf League, Tabuena has given himself a prime chance to contend. But with a stacked leaderboard behind him, he knows this is only the beginning.
Justin Quiban, meanwhile, shot a 68 for joint 35th, while Angelo Que struggled coming off a sweep of the first two legs of the Philippine Golf Tour, hitting six birdies but hobbling with eight bogeys for a 72 and in danger of missing the cut at joint 111st.
