Lascuña boosts lead to 3 with 70

GEN. TRIAS, Cavite—Antonio Lascuña cracked par for the third straight day with a two-under 70 Thursday, staking him to a three-shot lead over Elmer Salvador heading into today’s final round of the P3-million ICTSI Eagle Ridge Classic here.

The 43-year-old Davaoeño sustained his brilliance around the greens to make up for a shaky performance off the tees at the Aoki layout and post a 210 total counting earlier rounds of 69 at the Norman and 71 at the Faldo courses of the vast complex.

“I struggled with my drives today,” said Lascuña, the Order of Merit champion the last two seasons.

Salvador, the 2009 champion of the all-Filipino Philippine Open at Malarayat, fired a 69 despite a bogey on No. 16 for 213, with Charles Hong hanging on to become the third and last player left with a sub-par aggregate at 214 after a 72.

“Having the lead will make (the pursuers) think about how to catch me,” said Lascuña, who finished in the top three of the first two events this season.

Marvin Dumandan, who shared the first-round lead with Jay Bayron, carded a 75 to fall eight shots off the pace, with the Canadian Rick Gibson also shooting a 75 for 219 like Carl Santos-Ocampo, who returned a 76.

Only two other players after Lascuña and Salvador—obscure Nilo Salahog and the fancied Angelo Que—shot sub-par cards with 71s to tie at 220.

Hong missed gaining ground on the leaders after dropping shots on the 16th and 17th because of poor approaches. Still, at four down, he’s left with a decent shot at a second career title.

Frankie Miñoza fired a 75 and was at 221 like Bayron, who shot a 76.

Event backers: Nike Golf, Custom Clubmakers, Titleist, Cleveland, Pacsports, Srixon, Callaway, Sharp and FootJoy and media partners Balls TV and ABS-CBN.