“It’s an exciting and interesting game. I made eight birdies and Que had nine,” said Lacuna, who took charge twice but ended up at all-square after 9 holes. READ:
hole, Guido Van der Valk survived a big scare to somewhat get even with Jerson Balasabas, 2&1, and Clyde Mondilla leaned on another big windup for a 2-up win over Jay Bayron yesterday.
Que won the first two holes at the back but the second ranked Lascuna fought back to send the match back to where it started with the latter pouncing on the former’s missed drive on their return to No. 1 and finishing with a routine par to clinch the duel that set up the four-time Order of Merit winner to a quarterfinal clash with former national teammate Gerald Rosales.Rosales, the all-Filipino Philippine Open champion in 2000 and ranked No.
The top-seeded Van der Valk dominated Balasabas in their first clash since the latter edged the former in sudden death to win the Philippine Masters here in 2018, winning three of the first six holes. “I made a good birdie on No. 14 and went 1-up. Then I hit every fairway and gree that makes it a litter harder for your opponent because he has to make birdies to win the hole,” added Van der Valk, who, however, downplayed his Masters loss to Balasabas.
Tabuena also provided the spark in a sweltering day, recovering big from a poor start and three holes down against Zaragosa to fuel his title drive in head-to-head clashes after ruling the PGT’s kickoff leg at Luisita in a playoff win over Mondilla last March. Bracing for two matches, Tabuena, coming off a stint in Egypt with Que, said: “I need to recover properly and stay hydrated. I need proper rest. There will be two matches tomorrow , so it’s important to really be 100 percent.”