Solaire Open: Resurgent Casas ready for encore

MANILA, Philippines — The $300,000 Solaire Open firing off this week at wind-swept The Country Club in Laguna has drawn the participation of the current crop of local stars—and one notable veteran enjoying a second wind in his career.

Cassius Casas, just a month after beating the country’s finest in a lucrative event over the same course south of Manila, will be hoping to sustain a hot streak to regain some measure of international respect starting Thursday.

“I am very happy with how I have been playing lately,” Casas said in Filipino as he plays his second Asian Tour event this year and tries to secure a second local title after ruling the rich TCC Invitational last month.

“I am 47, but it doesn’t matter,” added Casas, the toast of local golf for more than a decade from the early 1990s. “I feel my game is good enough to play on the Asian Tour.”

Angelo Que and Antonio Lascuña are the other major local hopes while Frankie Miñoza looms as the tournament’s sentimental pick.

Miguel Tabuena, Jay Bayron and Elmer Salvador are also entered in this event won by Taiwan’s Lin Weng-tang at Wack Wack East last year.

Mardan Mamat, the Singaporean who won the Philippine Open two years ago, will also be gunning for a second win on local soil.

A notable absentee is 2011 Asian Tour order of Merit champion Juvic Pagunsan, who was not invited.

Pagunsan, suspended due to his unsportsmanlike behavior on the ICTSI Tour, was barred from the TCC Invitational won by Casas after he refused to pay a fine of P20,000 so he could be reinstated in the local tour.