Lascuña pulls away

DASMARIÑAS, Cavite—Antonio Lascuña inched closer to his first back-to-back title romp on the ICTSI Tour yesterday, shooting a second straight 6-under-par 66 to open a four-shot lead over Angelo Que going into the final round of he Orchard Championship here.

The 43-year-old from Davao opened up with two straight birdies at the Orchard’s Player course and capped his bogey-free round with another for a 54-hole 202 aggregate.

Que fired a 67 highlighted by seven birdies against two bogeys and faced a huge task of overtaking Lascuña, a wire-to-wire winner by four shots in Calatagan, Batangas, two weeks ago.

Carl Santos-Ocampo, tied for the lead at the start of the day, couldn’t do better than a level 72 and dropped six strokes off the pace at 208, even as Richard Sinfuego cracked par for the third straight day with a 70 that put him eight behind.

The fancied Juvic Pagunsan fired his best round of the tournament—
a 66—but seemed out of it all at 211, nine shots behind. He was tied with Jay Bayron, who fired a 69, and Michael Bibat, who assembled a 73.

“My chipping and putting were great,” Lascuña said in Filipino.

Mars Pucay, the joint first-round leader with Santos-Ocampo, fired a 70 and teen prodigy Miguel Tabuena had a 72 for 212.

Que could have come closer if not for consecutive bogeys from No. 10, but the former Philippine Open champion isn’t counting himself out yet.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Que, playing in the tour for the first time this year, said of the four-stroke deficit. “It’s not impossible. Maybe a flawless round tomorrow (today) would help.”

Lascuña, the reigning Order of Merit champion, had three more birdies in between his hot start and finish—where he almost holed out for eagle.

Toru Nakajima of Japan had a 74 that left him in a 13th place tie with Cassius Casas, who shot a 70, at 216.