Antonio Lascuña will be hard-pressed to repeat as OOM winner. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Antonio Lascuña has battled a gout-stricken right elbow for more than a month now, and as the Philippine Golf Tour season opens Monday at Pradera Verde in Pampanga, the 54-year-old veteran will be trying to fight the ailment and at the same time tame a field that is even more talented than before.
“There are a lot of young, good players coming up,” Lascuña, the reigning Order of Merit winner, told the Inquirer in Filipino recently while preparing for the season’s kickoff leg at Manila Southwoods. “I feel like the veterans like myself and Angelo (Que) still have the games to win. But it’s going to be even more challenging.”
Article continues after this advertisement
Lascuña is 54 now, and Que is 46, but the two pillars of the local pro tour continue to be formidable forces and will play each leg with the veritable targets on their backs.
“It’s all part of the game,” Lascuña added. “That’s why I know that I cannot take it easy. I have to come to each leg ready to play.”
A handful of foreigners led by South Korean Q School medal winner Jeff Jung and countryman Min Wook-gwon, who won the lucrative The Country Club Invitational late last month, are going to play the 10-leg circuit full time.
Article continues after this advertisement
That duo will be one to watch together with Carl Corpus, the former national team mainstay who also earned his card through Q School.
The Ladies PGT also gets going Monday over the same well-manicured layout as Harmie Constantino shoots for a second straight OOM.
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.