SAN PEDRO, Laguna - The big names in the Stronghold Insurance Senior Open field went into striking position right out of the gates on Monday, with Antonio Lascuna and Robert Pactolerin taking control of their respective divisions over a Hallow Ridge layout that bedeviled the talented field.
Lascuna drained three straight birdies in a stretch bridging the back and front nines and went on to shoot a four-under-par 68 to take a four-shot lead over big-hitting Rico Depilo in the centerpiece Senior (50-59) division.
Pacto turns back time
On the other hand. Pactolerin fired a 75 and is one of two former PH Open champions in the top three of the Super Senior (60-69) class.
Pactolerin, the 1990 Open champ, leads Doming Umadhay by two shots, with Mario Manubay, who won Asia's oldest national championship four years earlier, lying another two shots behind ahead of the halfway cut to be done after the second round play on Tuesday.
"The pins were very tough to get close to," Lascuna said in Filipino, though all but one of his five birdies were from gimme distances. "I guess I was just lucky with some of my approaches."
Rey Pagunsan, the sweet-swinger from Murcia town in Bacolod, will start the second round six shots behind after dropping three shots in his last three holes, ruing a short game that deserted him and put a one-under card after 16 holes to waste.
"The pins being in difficult places wasn't the only challenge," Pagunsan, also in Filipino, said. "It was pretty difficult to judge the speed and the breaks if you are not familiar with the course."
Australian Matt Bundell is the best placed foreigner in the field after shooting a 75 to be tied with Pagunsan, even as Orlan Sumcad scrambled to a 77 and would need to come up with a low second round to be able to matter in the title chase on Wednesday.
Armando Eso fired a 79 to be four behind Pactolerin as both divisions will be grinding it out in the second round with only the the top 50 percent of the scores and ties advancing to the money round on Wednesday.
A cool P150,000 will be awarded the Senior champion, while the Super Senior winner will win P100,000. An 18-hole championship in the Legends (70-and-above) on Wednesday will be worth P50,000.
A Pro-Am was played to officially kick of the three-day event, with Lascuna and Dave Mercado Jr. winning the title by a comfortable five strokes over four other two-man teams. Mercado, the chairman of Quickway jHoldings, Inc., shot a system 36 net score of 77.
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