Tabuena snares ICTSI Open crown, OOM lead

MANILA, Philippines - Miguel Tabuena pulled through in a wild finish at Wack Wack’s dreaded East layout that took the sting out of Tony Lascuña, completing an incredible comeback from four shots down to a four-shot romp on a closing 71 to claim the ICTSI Open Championship yesterday.

The margin of victory didn’t reflect the manner by which Tabuena meticulously worked his way up from way down and into the lead with gutsy pars and clutch birdies while pouncing on Lascuña’s uncharacteristic meltdown midway through the battle for survival in one of the toughest courses in the land.

In the end, the young gun proved steadier than his veteran rivals, including Angelo Que and Cassius Casas who joined the title chase in one stretch until they, like Lascuña, fell by the wayside while trying to go for birdies in tough conditions.

In fact, Tabuena buried a crucial birdie on No. 12 to tie Lascuña at even par overall, went 2-up on Lascuña’s bogeys on No. 14 and 15, birdied the difficult 17th to go three-up then finished on top by four at one-under 287 as Lascuña bogeyed the final hole and wound up with a 79, a career-worst final round, for a 291.

“I didn’t expect to win with Tony in the lead. But I stayed patient in the last six holes, focused on every birdie opportunity that came my way,” said Tabuena.

He said his 15-foot birdie on No. 17 sealed the win and his 71 proved to be the best in the toughest day at the fabled layout en route to notching his third leg victory on the tour sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

Tabuena earlier won the Splendido and Rancho Palos Verdes legs of the event backed by Custom Clubmakers, Titleist, Nike Golf, PacSports, Callaway, Srixon, KZG, Sharp and Foot Joy.

More importantly, Tabuena’s P650,000 purse shoved him past Lascuña in the Order of Merit derby, seizing the lead with total earnings of P2,601,917 heading to the last two legs of this year’s circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

Que, just two behind Tabuena at the start of the round, charged into contention with a 35 but missed a couple of birdie putts at the back and bogeyed two of the last three holes for a 73, tying Lascuña at second. Each took home P335,000 each with Lascuña dropping to second in the OOM race with P2,334,960 and Que staying at third with P2,272,131.

One hole actually did the once unflappable Lascuña in as the reigning three-time OOM winner double-bogeyed the layout’s signature hole, the par-3 No. 8, after dumping his tee-shot into the right bunker, where he needed two blasts to get out, the last barely reaching the green.

“I lost my rhythm and poise after I double-bogeyed No. 8,” rued Lascuña, who bogeyed the next two and dropped three strokes in the last five holes.

Casas, tied with Tabuena after 54 holes, rebounded from a 40 start with back-to-back birdies from No. 12 to stay in the hunt but faltered with two bogeys in the last three holes and limped with a 76. The winner of the 2001 Philippine Open here ended up fourth at 292 and received P195,000.