BACOLOD – Micah Shin and Jay Bayron pounced on Tony Lascuña’s disastrous “9” on No. 13 and finished off with two birdies each to forge ahead in a topsy-turvy third of the ICTSI Bacolod Golf Challenge at the Bacolod Golf and Country Club in Binitin here yesterday.
Lascuña quickly overcame a three-stroke deficit to storm ahead by three with a solid 30 start but drove out-of-bounds twice while trying to reach the 283-yard par-4 13th which he birdied in the first two days. He fell short on his third try, made it in six then three-putted.
“I gambled and lost. That’s golf,” said Lascuña, who bogeyed the next but birdied two of the last four to salvage a 69.
That enabled Shin and Bayron to take charge and zero in on the top P270,000 purse in this ninth leg of the Philippine Golf Tour sponsored by ICTSI with the former birdying three of the last six to shoot a 68 and the latter gunning down two birdies in the last five to card a 69 for 202s.
From three down at the turn, Shin and Bayron found themselves leading by three over Lascuña, Dutch Guido Van der Valk and a rallying Orlan Sumcad, who all pooled a 205 heading to the last 18 holes of the P1.5 million event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
Van der Valk failed to sustain a 65 in the second round and fumbled with a one-over 71 while Sumcad finally found his touch and form, rattling off three birdies in the last eight to fire a 67 and revive his bid for a maiden victory in his hometown.
Despite his misfortune, Lascuña remained confident of his chances for a third straight victory in the circuit.