Lascuña survives Caliraya challenge, hikes lead to 3

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 laser-precise driving and a razor-sharp wedge game to ignite a back-nine burst, carding a four-under 68 to firm up his grip on the lead halfway through the ICTSI Caliraya Springs Championship here on Wednesday.

Unlike the relatively mild opening day, the second round saw the sun bake the rolling Arnold Palmer-designed Caliraya Springs Golf Club, turning the tournament into a grueling test of hydration, stamina, and mental fortitude. But while the heat and the course setup wilted others, the five-time Order of Merit champion remained unflappable.

Starting his round on the back nine, 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 multititled campaigner leaned heavily on his seasoned course management.

At the turn, his patience paid off. Lascuña birdied the first two holes on the front nine, racked up two more consecutive birdies from No. 4, then recovered from a mishap on the eighth with a closing birdie to finish with a 32-36 card.

While his late birdie surge was short of the eight he drained in his spectacular opening 64, it was more than enough to keep him at the top at 12-under 132. Remarkably, Lascuña has yet to drop a single shot. Now 36 holes away from snapping a long title drought, he is proving he can still go toe-to-toe with a hungry, power-hitting younger generation.

“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 in Filipino, his patience and experience guiding him through numerous battles that yielded multiple titles.

He said he wasn’t fazed by the heat, but by the hilly layout of the course.

“The heat is fine, just stayed hydrated. What’s exhausting are the uphill holes — there are so many of them,” he joked with a grin.

Ahead of his showdown with Keanu Jahns and Zanieboy Gialon, Lascuña said he’ll just enjoy the game. “Whatever the challenge is, you take it as it comes.”

Acknowledging his rivals’ power, the ace Davaoeño shotmaker said he’ll rely on his putting. “I’ll leave the approach shots to my game, but my driving is steady and if my putting clicks, that’s where the big chances come from.”

The Manila Southwoods pro, however, can afford no room for complacency. A wild and woolly third-round battle looms, with a star-studded leaderboard breathing down his neck.

Defending champion Jahns grabbed solo second at 135 after a 68, unable to close to within two with a last-hole bogey on No. 9. He ignited his charge with three straight birdies at the back, survived a few mid-round mishaps, and recovered with five birdies against two bogeys at the front as he moved on track to replicate his four-stroke dominance from last year.

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 with a 70 and dropping to joint third with Gialon and Guido van der Valk at 136.

But the final 36 holes of the PHP 2.5 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 rekindled his old romance with the well-maintained Arnold Palmer-designed course, unleashing 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 after a 70 for matching 137s, 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, remarkably joining Lascuña and Zaragosa in the “bogey-free through two rounds” club.

With the course drying up, the greens speeding up, and the temperature soaring, the penultimate round is perfectly poised for a chaotic scramble for position. Lascuña holds the steering wheel for now, but with heavyweights and hungry young guns locked and loaded behind him, Caliraya Springs is set to erupt.

Clyde Mondilla, who tied Que for 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.