Antonio Lascuña beyond recall after a 67
MANILA, Philippines — Attacking the pins without letup, Antonio Lascuña fired a flawless five-under-par 67 Friday to practically put the ICTSI Valley Golf Classic title away with a seven-shot lead heading into the final round at the tree-lined South course in Antipolo.
Lascuña gunned down four of his five birdies on his opening nine and left Cassius Casas and Jonel Ababa in his wake with an eye-popping 13-under 203 total on a course that hasn’t played this easy to anyone in the past.
Casas and Ababa fired a 70 and 71, respectively, and shared second on 210s even as Carl Santos-Ocampo signed for a 69 to be another shot back.
Young Micah Shin matched Ocampo’s effort and lay fifth at 212 tally.
Miguel Tabuena, the 19-year-old prodigy, sustained his rally from a horrendous opening 78, shooting a tournament-best 66 for 215 to be well inside the top 10, just five shots out of second spot.
“Everything worked for me today,” Lascuña said in Filipino. “I had a good start and made some putts in the back nine.”
Lascuña was actually locked in a heated shootout in the front nine with Casas, as both made the turn at 32. Casas, the former Philippine Open champion, gunned down five birdies in that stretch.
But he couldn’t play as steady as Lascuña coming home, signing for bogeys on three of his last seven holes.
Tabuena, who, like the other aces, is priming up for the Philippine Open next week at Wack Wack East, shot eight birdies that went with two bogeys.
Eric Mina skied to a 75 and dropped to 216, a shot in front of Jessie Balasabas (69), Robert Pactolerin (74) and three others.
Big guns Elmer Salvador and Charles Hong also lost touch with the leaders.
Salvador scored a 72 for 218, while Hong, the come-from-behind winner at Sherwood two weeks ago, shot a 74 to be at 219.
The event is being backed Nike Golf, KZG, Titleist, Cleveland, Pacsports, Srixon, Callaway, Sharp, FootJoy and Custom Clubmakers.
