Lascuña out to clinch OOM title with victory

FOR Antonio Lascuña, the Order of Merit crown is just a consolation prize.

“Why settle for fourth when you can go for the win,” Lascuña said in Filipino on the eve of the ICTSI Tournament Players Championship at Wack Wack’s East layout in Mandaluyong.

Needing to just finish fourth to wrap up a fourth OOM in five seasons, Lascuña has been displaying fine form all year long and is listed as one of the players to beat in the P3.5-million tournament that will bring the curtains down on the 2016 Philippine Golf Tour.

Jay Bayron is also one of the favorites, having won the last tournament played at the East course—the much-tougher Aboitiz Invitational last month—where he turned back Gavin Green of Malaysia with a fine last-round effort.

Clyde Mondilla, the only man who can unseat Lascuña in the OOM race, is also itching for a victory, just to tie the veteran Lascuña in the number of leg wins this season with four.

Mondilla will top the tour for the first time if he wins the tournament and Lascuña finishes fifth or worse.

A strong international cast made up of former leg winners on the Asian Development Tour is also in the chase for the P650,000 champion’s purse.

Also worth watching is young Micah Shin, the 19-year-old American-Korean who won the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Open at Luisita last week by two shots over Lascuña.

Meanwhile, Mark Fernando teamed up with Justin Limjap, Manny Salgado and Alex Honrado to pool an 18-under 54 and edge Arnold Villacencio and partners Zeus Mangubat, Ted Valenton and Olan Bool, by one in yesterday’s traditional pro-am. Rico Depilo, with Sunny Donato, Bryan Donato and Jeremy Maravilla, placed third with a 56.