Lascuña tops Bacolod leg

Tony Lascuña turned from flawed to flawless and foiled two gritty foreign rivals to annex a third straight championship on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour. INQUIRER GOLF

ANTONIO Lascuña dropped a 12-foot birdie putt from the fringe in the first playoff hole yesterday and completed his rally from three strokes down to win a three-man playoff for the ICTSI Bacolod Golf Challenge in Murcia town.

Lascuña carded a bogey-free five-under-par 65 to tie Dutchman Guido Van Der Valk and American Micah Shin at 10-under-270 after regulation, before holing that putt for his third straight title and fourth win of the season.

“I guess I was just lucky that my putt went in,” Lascuña, who won another P270,000 said in Filipino. “I played perfect golf in the back nine and hardly missed anything.”

Van Der Valk, a long-time Philippine resident who was runner-up to Elmer Salvador in the 2009 Open at Malarayat, also closed out with a 65. He missed a long putt for birdie in the first playoff hole.

Shin, who led after the first round, trailed by one after 36 holes before sharing the pace with Jay Bayron after the third round Friday, fired a 68 to be the third man in the playoff.

But Shin missed the green in the playoff and couldn’t save par.

Bayron had three birdies and the same number of bogeys for a level 70 and finished two shots off the trio, even as senior tour-bound Cassius Casas and Mark Fernando fired 68s for 274s.

Zannie Boy Gialon, Jonel Ababa and Jessie Balasabas, products of the defunct National Caddies Open, finished tied with veteran Orlan Sumcad at 276 to round out the top 10 finishers.

Gialon, a multiple leg winner, shot a 66, while Ababa and Balasabas fired 67s and Sumcad a 71.