Tony Lascuña: I still have it. —PHOTO FROMOF TONY LASCUÑA’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Fully recharged coming off a three-week break, Tony Lascuña will shoot for a sweep of the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) restart tournaments next week when Riviera’s Langer course hosts the crack field in a bubble environment.
The multititled 50-year-old came from behind and closed out with a brilliant final round at the Couples course to upstage younger, longer-hitting competition as he continues to flaunt impressive form which he hopes to take next year when he bids for a spot in the Japan Senior tour.
“I proved to myself that I still have it,” Lascuña told the Inquirer on Monday before practicing at Manila Southwoods, his home course. “I was outdriven by a lot of the young guys all week. I was just fortunate, I guess.”
Lascuña fired a final round four-under-par 68 in demanding conditions and won the Couples stop by four shots over rookie Ira Alido as the fancied Angelo Que couldn’t get it going in the earlier rounds to finish five shots behind despite a 67 on the final day.
Olympian Miguel Tabuena finished with an even 288 total, eight shots behind, and will definitely have something to prove at the tougher Langer course, a much difficult course made even harder by the winds prevalent there at this time of the year.
“The Langer course needs to be played very differently,” Lascuña went on in Filipino. “Having length [off the tees] is an advantage, of course, but you won’t be able to bomb it out there all the time.
“It would still go down to scrambling, because the winds can play tricks on everyone.”
Que and Tabuena are former Philippine Open champions whom Lascuña still tags as the favorites in the Dec. 8-11 tournament that will have a P2.5-million kitty.
Several foreigners led by Dutchman Guido van der Valk are also entered even as Rupert Zaragosa, the pint-sized, many-time national amateur champion, continues his search for a breakthrough pro win after finishing tied with Alido.
Like in the Couples leg, all players will return to a set of rules and safety protocols, including swab tests and restricting the players’ movements inside the tournament hotel and venue.