Lascuna’s course-bashing leads to ‘perfect 10’

It may not have the kind of news value that would merit a space for a weekend read. And golf purists will surely leave it full of holes for it was not done in the crucible of tournament play. It would surely not get into the record books.

But, hey, you don’t get to see this kind of feat every day in the links. It’s scoring "perfect birdies" on the homeward half of a championship course. And Antonio Lascuña, a dusky pro from Davao, made the feat from the Robert Trent Jones-designed South course of Canlubang Country Club playing at its full competition yardage of 6,795 last Saturday.

There was no pressure for sure although he was playing regular money bets with fellow pros Mars Pucay and Richard Sinfuego and amateur Boyet Zaragosa but by the time the birdies started piling up on his scorecard, Lascuña found himself struggling on self-imposed pressures to keep the birdie roll to the very end.

In all, he fired nine straight birdies for a 27 on the backnine and a nine-under par 63 in the round.

No, make it 10 in a row, including one on the ninth that triggered this rush of birdies on the backside.

"Hindi ko na alam ang ginagawa ko. Puro dikit sa butas (I didn’t know what I was doing. All were close to the holes)", said Lascuña, 30, who has won four circuit titles since turning pro in 1997,