Lascuña, Pactolerin zoom away on day of survival
SAN PEDRO, Laguna—A sustained downpour and blustery gusts that made for demanding conditions in the second round failed to stop Antonio Lascuña and Robert Pactolerin from putting vice grips on their respective divisions as the Stronghold Insurance Senior Open winds down on Wednesday at Hallow Ridge Filipinas Golf here.
Lascuña drained three of his five birdies in his final six holes, turning what was a disaster coming out into a brilliant display of resiliency for a 140 aggregate and a six-shot lead over Mars Pucay, who was the only one to crack par over the tree-lined, up-and-down lay-out after firing a 71 to be one shot ahead of Rico Depilo, and Rey Pagunsan.
The 54-year-old Lascuña signed for a double bogey 6 to open his round after failing to find his ball after an approach that just missed the green. His ball apparently found a hole in a drainage, and since he couldn’t identify it, lost stroke and distance that got his round off on the wrong foot.
But Lascuña is not the only five-time Order of Merit winner of the PGT for nothing, as he gathered himself coming home with a flawless 33.
“Good that happened early,” Lascuña, with a slight smile, told the Inquirer in Filipino. “I had a lot of holes left to regroup and it wasn’t easy because a lot of contenders were applying the pressure.”
Playing in the flight ahead, Pucay was one of those, with Pagunsan, who shot a 73 and Depilo, shooting a 75, gaining a lot of ground before Lascuña came in with that birdie barrage that would definitely make him hard to catch in the final round.
“Nothing is sure in a course like this,” Lascuña said, even as Pactolerin, the 1990 Philippine Open champion, opened up a seven-shot lead over Doming Umadhay after carding a 74 for 149, with Japan’s Tanaka Kosuke now running third.
“It was really tough out there,” the 63-year-old Pactolerin said in Filipino after a 37-37 round that was littered with four bogeys that resulted from winds and rain that made distance control to very small greens difficult. “I’m glad to have scored the way I did.”
Umadhay shot a 79 and Kosuke 78 to dislodge another former PH Open champion, Mario Manubay, from third spot. The Japanese is three behind Umadhay, making the fight for second a very interesting one on Wednesday.
