Antonio Lascuña —FILE PHOTO
Antonio Lascuña drained a 12-foot putt for birdie on the 18th hole on Thursday, capping a demanding test within the third round of the wealthy The Country Club (TCC) Invitational, which toasted a brand new leader within the 53-year-old veteran on the wind-buffeted layout in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The brutal 7,735-yard layout didn’t yield a sub-par card for the second straight round, and Lascuña stood out within the crack field after returning a level-par 72 that unseated Miguel Tabuena at the highest after completing a climb from six down on Tuesday and 4 at first of the day.
“We played in extreme elements,” Lascuña said in Filipino after a 35-37 effort for 216 overall, one shot ahead of Tabuena, the 36-hole leader who skied to a 77. “Good thing my short game worked again.”
Two-shot swing
The champion 20 years ago, Lascuña, who lost to Tabuena within the Match Play finals here last month, 4&3, still believes that he’s the underdog owing to the sheer length of the TCC.
“The course is just too long for me, in comparison with 20 years ago,” he said. “Yes, I can still play the sport at a high level. But I’ll need every thing to work in the ultimate round.”
Tabuena, meanwhile, signed for 3 of his five bogeys within the last five holes, counting one on the 18th where he did not rescue par from 15 feet. That two-shot swing resulted in Lascuña taking the lead because the duo practically assured a two-man race for the P2 million top prize.
That’s because Jonel Ababa is seven shots back like LJ Go after a 75 and 72, in that order, with Clyde Mondilla one other stroke adrift after stumbling to a 79.
“I putted the ball well but I wasn’t pleased with the way in which I struck it (ball). My long game wasn’t to my standards,” rued Tabuena, who bogeyed three of the last five holes for a 38-39.
Korean-American Micah Shin, who nipped Tabuena to grow to be the primary non-Filipino winner of this event in 2018, shot a 76 join Keanu Jahns and Korean Min Seong Kim, who made 79 and 80, respectively, at sixth at 229.
