CAVINTI, Laguna – Age is proving to be nothing but a number, and the sweltering heat just another hazard for Tony Lascuña.
Shaking off early putting struggles, the 55-year-old veteran relied on precise driving and a razor-sharp wedge game in a back-nine burst on the way to a four-under 68 in the second round of the ICTSI Caliraya Springs Championship on Wednesday.
Lascuña, who led by two after 18 holes with a solid 64, initially looked to be cooling off, flubbing birdie opportunities on at least six holes. Yet, where frustration could have set in, the multi-titled campaigner leaned heavily on course management.
READ Vintage Lascuna takes charge at Caliraya Springs after fiery 64
At the turn, his patience paid off. Lascuña birdied the first two holes at the front, racked up two more consecutive birdies from No. 4 then recovered from a bogey on the eighth with a closing birdie to finish with a 32-36 card.
At 12-under 132, Lascuña, remarkably, has dropped just a single shot as he padded his lead to three shots.
“I had a near-perfect par at the back nine, just waited for the birdie to drop. My putting isn’t bad – it just hadn’t been dropping,” said Lascuña. “The heat is fine, just stayed hydrated. What’s exhausting are the uphill holes – there are so many of them."
Defending champion Keanu Jahns grabbed solo second at 135 after a 68, unable to get within two after a last-hole bogey on No. 9.
Angelo Que spent most of the round in a share of second and looked poised to join Lascuña and Jahns in a highly anticipated threesome for Round 3. But he drove out-of-bounds on the par-4 ninth and wound up with a double bogey, leaving him at 70 and dropping to joint third with Zanieboy Gialon and Guido van der Valk at 136.
But the final 36 holes of the P2.5 million championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. won't just be a two-player race. The leaderboard is packed tight, promising maximum drama for moving day.
Gialon unleashed a fiery eight-birdie barrage to offset a double bogey for a 66, while van der Valk was equally sizzling, navigating the baking conditions for his own version of a six-under card to join Gialon at eight-under total.
Sean Ramos, fueled by a recent heartbreaking playoff loss in Malaysia, shot a steady 68, while Rupert Zaragosa joined him at 137 after a 70, matching Lascuña's rare feat of staying completely bogey-free through the first 36 holes.
Russell Bautista and Dino Villanueva carded 70 and 71 respectively, for joint eighth at 138.
Clyde Mondilla, who tied Que at second in the first round, faltered with a 74 and tumbled to joint 15th at 140, now eight strokes off Lascuña.
Forty players advanced to the last two rounds, including Rico Depilo (71), Carlos Packing and Francis Morilla, who matched par 72s, and Kim Tae Soo (73), tying for 37th at 144, and securing the cut.
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