Casas earns first Masters

Cassius Casas bagged his first-ever major championship in eight years when he won the Philippine Masters yesterday as rival Robert Pactolerin three-putted the first playoff hole in a dramatic duel that nearly failed to unfold at Villamor.

Casas nearly blew a three-shot lead in the last nine holes, missed winning it outright with a flubbed seven-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole but pounced on Pactolerin's meltdown under tremendous pressure of a sudden death with a routine par to clinch the victory he had been chasing all these years.

He closed out with a 70 for a 283, the same output put in by Pactolerin, who bounced back from a disastrous triple-bogey 8 on No. 4 to fire a 69 and force a playoff only to lose his bid for a third Masters title on his "weakness" that has hounded his game all these years.

Casas won the top P500,000 purse, kept his pride intact and earned the great honor of winning the first, and perhaps, the only major local tournament this year with the national golf circuit, which he ruled in the last three years, still uncertain of its future.

But the dusky Davaoeno shotmaker made sure his is secured as he humbled Pactolerin in a classic duel that was nearly aborted when the latter made a horrendous eight on the par-5 No. 4, the very hole he eagled in the first day and birdied in the second round.

"Hindi naman ako na-rattle sa backnine, basta sabi ko laro-laro lang ako," said Casas, who shot a 66 Saturday to seize the lead he didn't relinquish up to the 72nd hole.

"Ayaw lang siguro ng 72 holes," he added in jest.

The big gallery, too, actually asked for more, especially when Casas lined up his birdie putt on the 72nd hole and missed. But the pro-Pactolerin crowd all went home disappointed when their bet, despite two stunning recoveries from under the trees on the last hole of regulation and the playoff, three-putted from 30 feet, losing it all when he pushed his five-foot par-putt bid a bit too short.

"Putting pa rin ang problema ko. Pero sayang talaga yung 8 sa No. 4," said Pactolerin, who settled for P329,000 in this P3 million event sponsored by San Miguel Beer, San Mig Light and Viva Mineral Water and backed by Mitsubishi Motors.

Pactolerin, one down at the start of the round, applied the pressure early with a 15-foot birdie on the first hole to draw level but threw it all on No. 4 when, after driving into the woods, he punched a 5-iron second shot that went out-of-bounds. He played out in four, dumped his fifth shot into the greenside bunker and muffed a three-foot double bogey putt for that 8.

For all his victories since he turned pro in 1992, this should rank the highest, this being his first major triumph, and the sweetest, since he won over a two-time champion and the winningest player at Villamor.

And for good measure, Casas did it before a hostile crowd that forever haunted him since he seized the lead in the third round.

Swede Stephen Lindskog shot a 70 to finish third at 287 worth P166,500, as amateur Juvic Pagunsan, the third man in the championship flight, flinched when ranged against the big guns. He closed out with a 78 and finished in joint 10th with Carito Villaroman, who had a 73 and a 292 worth P54,600.

Indian Harmeet Kahlon placed fourth with an even-par 288 after a 70 (P134,000), followed by 1997 champion Rodrigo Cuello (71-289-P125,000), Ernie Rellon (71-290-P92,000), Danny Zarate (73-290-P92,000), Aaron Meeks of the US (73-291-P56,385), and Australian Park Unho (74-291-P56,385).