Wide-open race seen at Binitin as two aces return
Reymon Jaraula will defend his ICTSI Bacolod Golf Challenge title next week when he returns to the Philippine Golf Tour fold as he seeks to extend his brilliance over the tree-lined layout formerly known as the Binitin course in Murcia town.
Clyde Mondilla, the ex-Philippine Open champion, is another Del Monte standout that will rejoin the circuit after sitting out the Caliraya and Forest Hills legs because of prior commitments, making for a stacked field of aces chasing glory in the first of two stops in the City of Smiles.
Angelo Que, meanwhile, will be shooting to erase memories of a bitter one-stroke loss to Jaraula last year, even as another seasoned campaigner in Antonio Lascuña will be coming into the first of two P2 million events refreshed and primed with hours of practice.
“I hope it will be a different story next week,” Lascuña, the 54-year-old playing out of Manila Southwoods, told the Inquirer in Filipino on Thursday. “I’ve gad a lot of time to practice (compared to the first four legs) and I am definitely better prepared.”
Lascuña had to attend to an ailing wife in recent months and hasn’t had the tournament results he is very capable of.
Jaraula finished fourth at Forest Hills before skipping the Caliraya Springs leg. And Lascuña could only recount the putting exhibition that the Bukidnon native gave out last year in nipping Que by a shot.
“You have days like that, rounds like that,” Lascuña said of Jaraula’s final round last year. “It was really his tournament to win, and he showed that he is really capable of beating the best players on tour.”
On the other hand, Mondilla and Que are seen as fancied players starting Sept. 2, owing to the relative lack of length of the Binitin course, which tends to reward precision play more often than not.
Guido Van Der Valk and Keanu Jahns, the other two winners of the young season after Que, are also entered, providing a wide-open look to the 72-hole championship.
