Clear skies, low scores for opening day

There were few surprises yesterday morning as some of Saipan’s top golfers opened up the first round of the 10th Annual Tournament of Champions with the lowest scores of the 282-player field at the LaoLao Bay Golf Resort.

A light breeze from the Pacific Ocean greeted the duffers as they rounded the links, and while some of the leaders went home happy at the close of the day’s activities, they will return today with several within striking distance.

Sasaki Oliver is making his case to unseat Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho in the Championship Flight as the local standout scored a tournament low score of one-over-par 73, while the defending champ is tied with Jess Wabol for second, four strokes back at five-over-par 77.

That score is good enough for first place in the A Flight, as Tim Goodwin (77) holds a one-stroke lead over Tony Benavente (78) and youngster James Balajadia. The trend of second place ties continued in the B Flight as Ray Dela Cruz (79) of Tinian holds a slim one-stroke advantage over Danny Quitugua and Jung Hyuk Ra.

Melchor Perez enjoyed a comfortable four-stroke lead over his closest competitors in the C Flight with an 87, but Ray Villagomez, Henry Bautista, Jhun Calma, and Pete Hocog are waiting for him to slip as they head into Day 2.

On the women’s side, Michiyo Mizuno gave defending champion Noriko Togawa a run for her money as she finished the opener with a six-over-par 78. Togawa will have some work to do if she plans on repeating her feat from last year, as she is currently five strokes back with an 83. Shiori Onoue holds third place on the leaderboard though she is 11 strokes back at 89.

The seniors showed off their talents yesterday, as Ed Manibusan took the second-lowest score of the day with a three-over-par 75, but Kyonam Kim (76) and Eddie Peter (77) are hot on his trail.

The under-80 club included the top two leaders in the Super Senior Flight as well, as Duke Yoo finished his round of 18 holes with a 77 and Thomas B. Castro landed a 78. The opening day’s third-place finisher was just out of the club with an 81, but that score was better than 90-percent of the overall field.

“Things went pretty smooth. Everybody got off to a good start and we started on time. We finished a little early this year and it’s gone very smooth,” said TOC chairman Rodney Klinge.

Though he had previously said that the tournament would be held rain or shine, Klinge didn’t have to worry about invoking a one hour rain delay as the sun was shining upon the links all day.

When commenting on the nice weather that made an appearance for the opening day of the tournament, Klinge jokingly thanked Ben Babauta, because that was one of his responsibilities.

Though he cannot pull any strings when it comes to meteorological concerns, Gov. Juan N. Babauta was on hand playing alongside a man with an open line of communication with someone who does in Father Manny Corcuera.

Babauta said that he was out enjoying the day on the course and that he had a little strategy while swinging his Omega clubs.

“It’s nice to be out here to support the Tournament of Champions—for a good cause. My strategy is to stay away from the bunkers—as far away as possible, to stay away from the water, and to stay on the fairway, and I’ll be happy of I can bogey a hole,” he said.

The TOC continues this morning at 7am as the golfers alternate between the east and west courses.