ANTONIO Lascuña and rookie Justin Quiban shot roller-coaster 1-under-par 71s Friday and allowed a horde of others into the title chase going into Saturday’s final 18 holes of the P3.5 million ICTSI Luisita Championship in Tarlac.
The 43-year-old Lascuña and Quiban, who both fired bogey-free second-round efforts on Thursday, struggled all day in the final flight and needed birdies in the closing holes to post identical 54-hole 207 aggregates, one ahead of Japan’s Toru Nakajima.
The only foreigner to win in the Philippine Golf Tour, Nakajima carved out a 69 for 208, with the long-hitting Clyde Mondilla a further stroke back after a similar 69 over the picturesque championship course north of Manila.
Park Jun-hyeok of South Korea cracked par for the first time, returning a 67 to trail by four with Orlan Sumcad, Albin Engino and Jessie Balasabas aggregating 212 following rounds of 70, 72 and 68, respectively.
But the fancied Angelo Que reeled farther back, shooting himself in the foot with a 73 and stood six behind. Que had it at seven under at one point only to find the water twice on the par-3 17th and sign for a quadruple-bogey 7.
Quiban drained a 20-footer for birdie on the 18th to keep in step with Lascuna. He could write history on the local tour by winning his pro debut with a solid round today.
“I’ll just play relaxed [in today’s final round],” said the 20-year-old Quiban, who helped Southwoods repeat as PAL Interclub champion last month in Pampanga. “If things go smooth, well and good. If not, it would still be OK.”
Lascuña, meanwhile, was at one over after 11 holes and gunned down his third and fourth birdies on the last eight to put himself in an excellent position to return to the winner’s circle.
“Everything will depend on who can putt better [today],” said Lascuña.