LUBAO, Pampanga. – Tony Lascuna continued to defy the odds on a course where length is the key, banking on his accuracy, ball control and putting to storm ahead by two on a solid 70 halfway through the ICTSI Pradera Verde Championship here Wednesday.
He hit all fairways in high winds with his 250-yard norm, forever relying on his hybrid — and at times 3-wood — in tackling the long par-4s and par-5s while his younger, stronger rivals opted for irons. But what makes the good-natured Davaoeno’s game tick and click in big-time championships and on this challenging course is that he always finds a way to give himself chances.
Two strokes clear of Angelo Que, Art Arbole and Guido Van der Valk at five-under 139, Lascuna gained another crack at victory in this late stage of a checkered career, leading a pack of power-hitters and a Dutch rival whose game resembles his.
“This course is really for the long hitters,” said Lascuna, a four-time Order of Merit winner on the Philippine Golf Tour, who is also impressive in the accuracy of his short game that saw him go out of regulation just once.
“But my hybrid has been working quite well— and my putts are going in,” he added.
That’s the scary part of Lascuna’s game. When his putts keep dropping, the titles would keep coming.
He actually flubbed four makeable chances inside seven feet but drilled a clutch one from way out on the 17th, giving him a two-shot cushion heading to moving day of the P2 million championship put up by ICTSI.
But no lead is safe at the well-maintained Pradera Verde as Que stayed in the thick of things at 141 despite slowing down with a 72 after an opening 69; Guido Van der Valk bouncing back from a wobbly frontside 38 with four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 12 to save a 70; and unfancied Art Arbole leaning on what he termed as “lucky” streak to put himself in the conversation.
