TAINAN, Taiwan – Tony Lascuña kept his run of good form into the pivotal round of the Nan Pao TPGA (PGA of Taiwan) Open and fired a four-under 68 Saturday, dispatching a pair of Taiwanese aces to wrest solo control by two over a charging Thai Ratchapol Jantavara at the Nan Pao Golf Club here.
He could’ve actually pulled away from the stellar pack if not for four lip-outs and a couple of three putts that marred his 33-35 card that came after he produced a course-record trying 64 Friday to force a three-way tie after 36 holes of the fifth leg of Philippine Golf Tour and sixth stop of TPGA.
With young Liu Yu-Jui failing to match Lascuña’s hot run and slowing down with a 71 and sturdy Lee Cho-Chuan scrambling majority of the way and settling for a 72, the Filipino ace stormed ahead by two with a 15-under 201 aggregate.
But Lascuña faces another set of rivals, this time a pair of Thai top guns as Jantavara charged back from four flights behind to earn a spot in the championship flight with a stirring bogey-free 65 he highlighted with a five birdie-spree from No. 2 for a 203.
And he will have Sattaya Supupramai as ally in the final threesome after the latter matched Lascuña’s 68 for joint third at 204 with Liu heading to the last 18 holes of the $100,000 championship co-organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
Despite his sorry misses and flubbed putts, Lascuna came into the clubhouse relieved more than disappointed, having survived three days of struggle on the layout’s unreceptive, tough greens and emerging on top for a clear crack at the $17,500 purse in the event backed by PLDT Enterprise, Meralco, BDO and PGT Asia official apparel Pin High.
“I need to stay focused. There are too many young players out there who could shoot a 7-under card at any given day here. So, I have to at least score a five-under tomorrow (today) to win,” said Lascuña, now closer than ever to becoming the first Filipino to win a PGT Asia event abroad.
He last won overseas when he edged Singapore’s Mardan Mamat in a playoff for the Sabah crown in Malaysia in 2013 and has not won back at home since topping the ICTSI Forest Hills Championship in 2017.
That makes the former three-time PGT Order of Merit winner hungry for another crown that could enticingly be there for the taking given his current form and confidence boosted by a string of runner-up finishes in the PGT.
“For as long my irons, wedge and putting work, I see no problem tomorrow. Though I give away some 40-50 yards off the tee to the younger, power hitters, I make up for this with my solid wedge shots,” he added.
He was indeed on target in another scorching day and unlike in the second round where he rolled in two lucky putts from 25 feet, he let his irons and wedge shots do the working as he birdied Nos. 1, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 16 just inside six feet.
But like most of the surviving 55-player field, he made some lapses on the relatively short 6635-yard layout, including those three-putt miscues on Nos. 4 and 17 and birdie putts that all found the hole but lipped out on Nos. 2, 7, 11 and 18, the last, from just about eight feet that left the gallery that ringed the green in disbelief.
Jantavara, meanwhile, believes he could sustain his fiery round that put himself in contention for back-to-back title feat by the Thais in the PGT Asia events abroad after Wisut Artjanawat rallied from six down in the final round and beat Taiwanese Sung Mao-Chang by two in the Daan TPGA Open in Taichung last May.
Lee birdied No. 16 to salvage a 72 but slipped to joint fifth with Finland’s Teemu Putkonen, who shot a 67, and local bet Liu Tse Sen, who carded a 68, at 205.
Sung also made a 68 for joint eighth at 206 with fellow Taiwanese Wang Jen Li, who turned in a 71, while veteran Chen Tze Chung also shot a 71 for joint 10th at 207 with Lien Lu-Sen and Thai Sutijet Kooratanapisan, who carded a 71 and 66, respectively.
Fil-Am Sean Talmadge followed up his solid 68 with a 69 and moved to joint 18th at 69 but Jay Bayron settled for a second straight 71 and fell to a share of 27th at 210, nine shots behind his fellow Davaoeño ace.
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