Tough test up at Apo Golf tourney
One of the sternest tests is up for the PGT field this week in Davao when the ICTSI Apo Golf Classic tees off on Tuesday, and contrary to club players in the metro wanting the rains to ease a bit to dry the courses, Antonio Lascuña is hoping for the opposite.
“I hope it rains,” Lascuña told the Inquirer over the phone in Filipino on Monday afternoon, hours after going birdie-less in the Pro-Am of the P3.5 million event because of rock-hard greens that not even him—one of the tree-lined layout’s foremost products—could figure out.
“If the greens remain the same for the rest of the week, (an) even par (score) will win the event,” the 54-year-old, a two-time champion at Apo with the last coming in 2023, added. “It’s as if I don’t know the course myself. It was super tough to figure out.”
Apo Golf has traditionally been one of the hardest courses in the land to play, with Jonel Ababa, another ex-caddy from Apo, winning with a five-over total last year.
He shares the same view.
“It will be very hard to go low here,” Ababa, who lost his wife Mielene to cardiac arrest close to eight months ago, said in a separate phone interview. “Balls just refuse to stop on the greens. It will be a battle for survival for four days for all of us.”
Reymon Jaraula, the winner last week at Del Monte with a 24-under total shot in benign conditions, will be seeking to win back-to-back events for the first time in his pro career.
But he won’t have the same local knowledge at Apo, unlike in Bukidnon, where he knew where to miss.
“Of course, those who grew up playing this course will have some advantage,” Ababa went on. “But we still have to play well.”
“There are a lot of young, talented players here this week,” Lascuña said. “Local knowledge is an advantage, but like I said, this course is going to play very tough this week. Superb four-round play will still make the difference.”
