Lascuna finishes joint second

Manila, Philippines -  Tony Lascuna fired a final round four-under 68 to finish in a tie for second place behind wire-to-wire winner Sujian Singh of India in the Taman Dayu Championship of the Asian Development Tour in East Java, Indonesia yesterday.

Lascuna, assembled 16-under 72, highlighted by a sizzling course record-tying 63 in the third round, through four days of action in the inaugural $75,000 event to essay the runner-up honors behind Singh, who closed out with a 72 for a six-stroke victory.

“It was good fun and I’m not disappointed with how I finish. Singh had a huge lead and it was tough to chase him down. All in all, I enjoyed this tournament. The course was fantastic and the tournament was well run,” Lascuna said on a report on the Asian Tour website.

Singh’s 10-shot advantage going into the final round never looked threatened as he cruised to a first triumph outside of India.

Finishing six shots behind the champ were Lascuna, the current Order of Merit leader on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour, Michael Moore (66) and Anthony Choat (66).

Filipinos Mars Pucay (69) and Jay Bayron (73) shared 11th spot.

Singh won $13,125 for the triumph, which he dedicated to his newborn daughter Serena.

“I just welcomed a baby girl in May and you start to feel that golf is not everything. That kind of eases the pressure and it worked for me this week,” said Singh.

 It was a relatively quiet round for Singh compared to his previous days’ scores of 64, 63 and 67 as he returned with two birdies and one double bogey on the par four 10th hole when his approach shot to the green got plugged in the greenside bunker.

 “I had to concentrate on my own game which was much harder because I was struggling with my ball striking. I missed a lot of fairways and this course will get tougher when you do that. I was still happy with the way I hung in there. I think my short game was fantastic,” he said.