**LUISITA** — A handful of home bets put themselves right in the thick of contention at the $100,000 BingoPlus Philippine ADT Open on Wednesday, as the talented field effectively tamed the age-old Luisita layout with a torrid opening day of scoring that saw an Englishman seize a one-shot lead after firing a bogey-free eight-under-par 64.
Thomas Plumb produced five of his eight birdies on the back nine to leapfrog a packed leaderboard and move one shot clear of Su Ching-Hung of Chinese Taipei. He was two strokes ahead of a quartet of Asian players and four up on a seven-man group tied at 68, which included five Filipinos led by Sean Ramos and amateur standout Shinichi Suzuki.
Preferred lies were in effect, and the 132-player field took full advantage, with 58 players breaking par and 10 others shooting even-par 72, setting up what is expected to be a low cut-off after Thursday’s second round.
“It was a good day right from the start really,” Plumb said after hitting every green in regulation. “It kind of made the day a little easier. I actually got off to a slow start, but the birdies just kept coming in after (pars on Nos. 1 and 2).”
The 27-year-old Plumb, who has made several starts on the DP World Tour, strung together four consecutive birdies starting from the ninth. After his seventh birdie on the 14th, he briefly found himself tied with Su before pulling ahead with a birdie on the par-5 16th.
“It just kind of kicked out there and all of a sudden, I was at six-under,” Plumb continued.
Su, the 24-year-old from Chinese Taipei, also carded eight birdies in clusters and said his strong start was in line with expectations despite the course playing long due to rain-softened fairways.
“Yes,” the 24-year-old Su told reporters when asked if he expected to come out of the gates the way he did. “The course is very long, but (the preferred lies rule) helped me a lot.”
Ramos, the highest-ranked Filipino in the ADT Order of Merit race at No. 10, produced an eagle-spiked round after a slow start, sitting at one-over through his first eight holes.
Jeff Lumbo, James Ryan Lam, and Fidel Concepcion—who earned his pro breakthrough at Apo Golf, a layout similar to the tree-lined Robert Trent Jones-designed Luisita course—also shot 68s, joining Franco Scorzato of Argentina and Nicklaus Chiam of Singapore.
“I was hitting OK to mediocre shots,” Ramos, who lost in a three-man playoff in Malaysia last month, said. “And then I started to get hot after I made bogey on (No.) 8. I made a 15-footer (for birdie) and then gained a little more confidence and momentum.”
