THE veteran campaigners on the Philippine Golf Tour will be aiming to finally catch a break this season as they see action in the BDO Canlubang Golf Invitational, which kicks off this week at the Canlubang Golf Course in Laguna.
Tony Lascuna, Marvin Dumandan and Cassius Casas, three Davaoeno campaigners who used to lord it over the field, seek to break a long winless skid with the season’s end nearing.
Lascuna, last pro win was in 2007 in the Selangor Masters in Malaysia. On the local front, the former national champion and Putra Cup individual gold medalist just couldn’t pull it off, settling for four runner-up finishes this year, including a heart-breaking four-hole playoff loss to Robert Pactolerin in the ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic last July.
But heading to the P1 million BDO Cangolf tilt, the penultimate leg of the 16-stage circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., the 40-year-old is upbeat of his chances on a course he also calls home.
Dumandan, who racked up three leg victories last year, is also due for a win. He had two second-place efforts this year, losing to Order of Merit frontrunner Juvic Pagunsan at ICTSI Eastridge Classic and finishing in a three-way tie with Elmer Salvador and Lascuna at Aboitiz Invitational.
Like Lascuna, Casas said he couldn’t get the needed breaks in the clutch but the former Philippine Open champion, who used to dominate the circuit in the mid 90s and early 2000, has also failed to unleash a strong finishing kick, losing steam at Aboitiz Invitational (fifth) and ICTSI Riviera Classic (second). Last week, he moved within two shots off Jhonnel Ababa but faded in the final round and ended up sixth. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio