Lascuña top ICTSI Southwoods fave

ANTONIO Lascuña will try to lean on his familiarity of the Legends layout and  end a string of hard-luck finishes in the ICTSI Tour when the P2.5 million Southwoods Championship tees off tomorrow in Carmona, Cavite.

A member of the club  since his amateur days, Lascuña knows the tight, bunker-laden layout like the back of his hands and is easily the odds-on pick in the 72-hole event that offers P450,000 to the winner.

The Legends requires a lot of power off the tees and  Lascuña is optimistic that the winning total this year will be lower than last year’s 14-under when he won at the Masters.

“I think we can do better than 14-under at Legends. Everybody is in tip-top shape and eager to get going after a three-week break,” said Lascuña in Filipino.

The firm and quick greens will be the layout’s last line of defense—and where Lascuña has a distinct advantage—as breaks on the putting surfaces of the Legends could prove to be deceivingly bigger than what most players would read.

Frankie Miñoza, the legendary pro from Bukidnon, is also in the roster and is tipped as one of the players to beat because of his length. Carl Santos-Ocampo, coming off an impressive victory over Lascuña in Tagaytay, is also considered a threat.

Elmer Salvador and Miguel Tabuena are also entered, and like Miñoza, Ocampo and Lascuña and other big names in the fold will be sampling the layout in today’s Pro-Am together with friends and sponsors of the tournament.

Lascuña placed second or  shared that spot in each of the last five legs. Together with his only win  at the Calatagan layout in Batangas, he paces the Order of Merit race with earnings of just over P1.2 million.

Nike Golf, Srixon, Custom Clubmakers, Pacsports, Cleveland Golf, Callaway, Ping, Mizuno, Empire Golf and Sports Shop, FootJoy, Titleist, Sharp and BMW are the event’s other backers.