Tabuena fires 68, grabs lead

JUST like he did last week, Miguel Tabuena made a bold third-round move, shooting a 4-under-par 68 when matching par proved too tough yesterday to zoom to a one-shot lead over Antonio Lascuña in the ICTSI Apo Golf Invitational.

The champion of the previous leg at Rancho Palos Verdes, also in Davao, Tabuena gunned down six birdies in an 11-hole stretch from No. 3 and easily wiped out an overnight four-stroke deficit for a 210 aggregate, moving on the threshold of a rare back-to-back romp on the local tour.

Lascuña also waxed hot coming home, draining six of his seven birdies on the back nine for a 69 that left him just a stroke off Tabuena. This is Lascuña’s most serious bid, after eight legs, to nail a maiden title this season.

Elmer Salvador made it a three-cornered fight for the championship after shooting a 68 for 212, just two shots off. He completes the trio that will be in the final group today.

Second-round co-leaders Frankie Miñoza and Jay Bayron failed to defeat the monster of the old layout and limped home with a 79 and 77, respectively, all but dropping out of the title fight.

Bayron threw away a birdie-par-birdie start by dropping three strokes in a two-hole stretch from No. 5. He stood at 215, two ahead of the revered Miñoza, who breezed into a tie for the lead with a 66 on Thursday.

Miñoza had two double bogeys on a front-nine 40.

“The conditions were tough, and it was good that I was able to finish strong,” said Tabuena, also the champion of the Splendido leg last March. Musong R. Castillo