Lascuña shares lead with 68

CAVINTI, Laguna, Philippines, April 19 ------ Tony Lascuña charged back from a three-putt miscue on No. 17 with a birdie from short range on the last hole, keeping a four-under 68 and forcing a four-way logjam at the helm after 18 holes of the ICTSI Caliraya Springs Championship here yesterday.

A happy mix of young guns and seasoned campaigners, including Sean Ramos and Elmer Salvador, matched 69s at the well-kept Caliraya Springs Golf Club, while seven others, led by recent Bacolod leg winner Ira Alido, produced identical 70s to make it a crowded leaderboard in the early going of the P2.5 million championship put up by ICTSI. Lascuña worked his way up in conventional fashion, targeting the long holes and birdying all but one of the four par-5s. He then rebounded from his lone mishap with a closing birdie on the par-4 18th for a pair of 34s.

Multi-titled Angelo Que missed joining the two-under par group with a bogey on the penultimate hole but his 71 tied him with four others at 18th, well within striking distance of leaders Lascuña, Lloyd Go, Clyde Mondilla and red-hot Rupert Zaragosa.

Meanwhile, Pauline del Rosario marred her return to the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour with a three-putt mishap but marked it with a big finish of two birdies in the last three holes as she fired a 69 and wrested a one-stroke lead over Korean Kim Seoyun.

Del Rosario quickly settled down after an early struggle with her putter, gaining strokes on Nos. 4, 7 and 10 then rebounding from a missed-green bogey on the 12th with birdies on Nos. 16 and 18, thus fueling her drive for an LPGT victory while on a break from the Epson Tour.

Source: philstar.com