Que fires career-low 62, rules Orchard by four

DASMARIÑAS, Cavite—Angelo Que, playing flawlessly, turned the final 18 holes of the ICTSI Orchard Championship yesterday into the low round of an already glittering  golf career.

Trailing by four at the start of the day,  Que fired a 10-under-par 62 at the Player course here to complete a come-from-behind win over a dazed Antonio Lascuña and boost his chances going into his US Open qualifying stint in Japan this week.

“I felt it, after the 10th hole, that I had something special coming,” the jolly Que told the Inquirer after shooting eight birdies and highlighting his overpowering round with an eagle 3 on the 18th set up by a 7-iron approach from 190 yards to 20 feet.

“It was a great way to win,” added Que, who leaves today for Japan to take part in the sectional tournament which serves as the final phase of qualifying for this year’s US Open set June 13 to 16.

Que’s previous best was a 64, which gave him the first round lead in the Indonesian Open in 2009.

The win was also the 13th in his pro career counting three Asian Tour wins that included topping the Philippine Open in 2008, and three victories in the lucrative The Country Club Invitational in Laguna.

With earlier rounds of 69, 70 and 67, Que finished with  a 20-under 268 to win by four over Lascuña, who had the same lead over Que  after the third round then  closed out with a 70.

The  62, though, couldn’t be considered as a course record with the field playing lift-clean-and-place, but it was more than enough for Que to seize the P450,000 champion’s prize out of the P2.5 million purse.

After shooting five birdies at the front for a 31, Que pulled even with Lascuña after a routine par on the 10th before scooting away for good with back-to-back birds from the 12th.

Que birdied the 16th and after holing out for par on the next, bombed his tee shot that left him with that mid-iron approach and with little worries since he already had a three-shot cushion.

Carl Santos-Ocampo, who had a share of the lead in the first two rounds, closed out with a 70 for third, six shots behind with Jay Bayron and Juvic Pagunsan shooting 69s to tie former Canlubang teammate Richard Sinfuego at 280. Sinfuego fired a 70.

Tomo Yoshinaga was the best foreign finisher after shooting a 65 for 283, with Miguel Tabuena matching par for 284.