Young Thai ties Lascuña on top

LIPA CITY—The putts wouldn’t drop this time but Antonio Lascuña still remained on top by four strokes yesterday but with young Thai Sattaya Supupramai as company after the rookie pro came out of nowhere to fire an 8-under-par 64 in the third round of  the ADT-ICTSI Mount Malarayat Classic.

Lascuña, who also shot a 64 in the first round before adding a 67, settled for a 69 and a 54-hole total of 200 like Sattaya, a 21-year-old seeking a first pro win. The Thai opened with a 69 before matching Lascuna’s 67 in the second round.

The  co-leaders stood at 16-under over the well-manicured Malipunyo and Lobo nines going into the final round of the second straight Asian Development Tour leg in the country this season.

Angelo Que and the ageless Frankie Miñoza also shot 64s with Que moving up to third just four shots back at 204 and Miñoza another shot adrift together with Englishman Ian Keenan and the Netherlands’ Guido Van Der Valk, who fired a 65 and 70, respectively.

Of the 58 players who survived the cut, only seven failed to get under par with  two posting  level scores as the layout proved defenseless with the absence of the winds, the greens becoming receptive because of days of rains and the field enjoying the preferred lie rule.

Australia’s Darren Tan fired a 70 and David Lutterus a 69 trailed by six strokes at 206 with Jessie Balasabas, the former national caddies’ champion, shooting a front side 30 for a 66 that put him in a seven-man group at 207.

“It started on No. 8, when I missed a very short putt (for birdie),” Lascuña told the Inquirer of his putting woes. “I just had some bad luck from there because my putts were grazing the holes. They just wouldn’t go in. My score would’ve been much lower.”
Playing in one group, Que and Miñoza both had nine birdies against a single bogey, launching an assault on the course all day that had the two big guns creeping into solid contention from being just one of the guys before the start of the day.

William Sjaichuddin, the Indonesian amateur who was four shots behind Lascuña after a second round 66 on Thursday, crashed with a 73 and now trailed by eight in the company of Jonel Ababa, Cassius Casas and Orlan Sumcad, who had a 66, 69 and 68, respectively.

After playing for several champion Thai teams in the Putra Cup, Sattaya will be shooting to win his breakthrough title as a pro  while Lascuña will be gunning for his 28th.