Antonio Lascuña, already a two-time winner this season, is the prohibitive favorite in the ICTSI Iloilo Golf Championship set to tee off next week at the Sta.Barbara course in Iloilo.
With Mars Pucay and Miguel Tabuena passing up the P1-million event starting this Wednesday, experts pick Angelo Que as a dark horse although the Asian Tour veteran has yet to flash his old mean form.
Que has been working double time to get into shape, playing 18 holes at Southwoods last Saturday while Lascuña was busy fine-tuning his short game.
The event that stakes a P200,000 top prize will actually be the first of two that will make up the Visayas stop of the Tour, the first time it has happened in two years.
Pucay won the last event at the charming, par-70 Sta. Barbara layout. Pucay won over Tabuena, who ruled the Tour’s last stop, the Manila Masters, last month.
Next week, the Tour goes to the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club (formerly Marapara) which Que and Lascuña would probably skip because of a big Asian Tour event in Chinese Taipei.
“I have been practicing hard the past weeks and I hope that something special is up for me,” said Que.
Que has not had that much time to practice after the recent birth of his first son.
Meanwhile, the traditional pro-am gets the tournament going Monday with amateur guests from the event’s chief backers, including Nike Golf, Pacsports, Srixon, FootJoy, It’s More Fun in the Philippines, Callaway, Mizuno, Custom Clubmakers, Titleist, Sharp and KZG pairing up with the leading pros.
After the Visayan legs, action returns to Luzon for the Aboitiz Invitational, which will have The Riviera’s Couples course as its new venue from Aug. 27 to 30.