Tony Lascuña will spearhead the local contingent out to foil the foreign challenge when the $60,000 ICTSI Orchard Golf Championship blasts off Wednesday at Orchard’s Player course in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
With hotshot Miguel Tabuena, come-from-behind winner of last week’s ICTSI Luisita Championship, absent to honor a previous commitment, Lascuña will be the country’s top gun against the likes of South African Mathiam Keyser, Americans John Michael O’ Toole, John Catlin and Paul Harris and Australian David Gleeson.
Also expected to contend for the title are Davao-based Korean-American Micah Shin and Englishman Steve Lewton, who topped the Solaire Philippine Open last month.
Lascuña, the reigning PGT Order of Merit king, settled for joint fourth at Luisita.
Keyser, meanwhile, is out to redeem himself from his playoff defeat to Tabuena, who fought back from seven shots down to snatch the title.
Other notable foreigners eyeing the top $10,500 purse are Americans Nicolas Paez and Brett Munson, Japanese Genki Okada and Shotaro Onuki, and Dutchman Guido Van der Valk.
The other Filipinos to watch in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments are Rufino Bayron, winner of the 2014 Orchard Championship, two-time Philippine Open champion Frankie Miñoza, Cassius Casas Elmer Salvador, Keanu Jahns and Jhonnel Ababa.