Hot Lascuña ties Aussie for halfway lead at TPC

TAIPEI—Antonio Lascuña, the hottest Filipino shotmaker this season, boosted his bid for a breakthrough win on the Asian Tour by firing a 3-under-par 69 and tying Cameron Smith of Australia for the lead halfway through the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) here Friday.

Together with his opening 68, the 34-year-old Lascuña stood at 137, which Smith matched with a 67 after a first-round 70 in the $500,000 Asian Tour event at Linkou International Golf and Country Club.

“I’m very excited about the weekend rounds now that I’m in the lead,” said Lascuña, the highest Filipino in the Asian Order of Merit at No. 8. “I just want to focus on every hole I play. I am definitely hoping to get my first win on the Asian Tour this week.”

Lascuña came into the tournament after winning his last three starts on the ICTSI Tour back home.

Lien Lu-sen of Taiwan trailed the co-leaders by one stroke at 138 after a 71 while Angelo Que, another Filipino hotshot who fired an ace in his opening 68 Thursday, was still very much in contention at 139 despite cooling off with a 71.

“I wasn’t hitting my irons as good as yesterday but I’m still happy with how I’ve been playing so far,” said Que, a three-time Tour winner. “Anything can happen on this course. You just got to be patient and try to hole more putts out there.”

Elmer Salvador, the Filipino first-round leader with a 66, came down to earth with a 74 for 140, even as Miguel Tabuena moved up on the leaderboard with a 68 for 141.

Jay Bayron rallied with a 72 for 145 but Cassius Casas became the lone Filipino casualty by struggling to a 75, missing the halfway cut by one at 147.

Que was in a four-way tie for fourth that included Indian star Anirban Lahiri, who fired the day’s low round of 66. Also in their group were Daniel Chopra of Sweden (68) and defending champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand (69).

Salvador was in a five-way deadlock for eighth while Tabuena was in a six-way logjam for 13th.

Lascuña also nailed four birdies as in the first round, three of them in his last eight holes after stumbling with his first bogey on the 10th. Asian Tour News