Pucay, Lascuña stay in hunt

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia—Mars Pucay and Antonio Lascuña rallied with a 34 on the back nine to finish with a 73 in the second round of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup Asian Qualifying on Thursday.

With their opening 70, the Filipino pair managed to move up a notch to seventh place at 143, 10 shots behind the leading Singapore team of Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat, but just four off the third-running pair of Kim Hyung-sung and Park Sung-joon of Korea.

Only the top three teams of the Asian Qualifying will earn tickets to the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China in November.

The Filipinos struggled in the foursomes (alternate-shot) format, stumbling with three bogeys and a double bogey on the front nine of the Seri Selangor Golf Club course. They shot a three birdies, including two on the first nine.

The Singaporeans recovered from a poor start to shoot a 70 and open up a three-shot lead over Indians Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri with a 133 total.

Bhullar and Lahiri battled to a solid 69 for 136 while the South Koreans rallied with a 69 to take third at 139.