Tabuena slides to IS No. 3 after the Moutai Singapore Open – BusinessWorld Online
MIGUEL TABUENA’S quest for one of the two golden tickets to next year’s LIV Golf via the International Series (IS) pathway hit a snag as he dropped to third spot in latest IS Rankings released on Monday.
Starting the week at No. 2, Mr. Tabuena slipped one place down after finishing tied for 18th at the Moutai Singapore Open last Sunday and earning 11.09 ranking points.
This allowed Japanese winner Yosuke Asaji to bump Mr. Tabuena off his previous spot behind leader Scott Vincent of South Africa with one leg left to settle the dispute for Top 2.
Mr. Asaji’s triumph over Korean Jeunghun Wang via sudden-death playoff at the Singapore Island Golf Club netted him 180 ranking points that fueled his ascent from 13th the previous week.
Mr. Vincent, meanwhile, failed to add to his 325.59 tally after placing 69th in Singapore but managed to hold on to pole position.
With Mr. Asaji’s surge, Mr. Tabuena is now hard-pressed to post a strong performance in the final event on the IS calendar, the $5-million Saudi International slated Nov. 19-22, to make the two-man cut.
Last week, LIV Golf announced it has expanded the slots to the first and second-ranked golfers at the end of the IS season after originally offering a berth to the Rankings topnotcher. — Olmin Leyba