Three Filipinos kick off title drive in Jakarta

MANILA, Philippines — Given the depth of the competing field, Angelo Que, Miguel Tabuena and Tony Lascuña would need no less than strong starts to fuel their respective title bids in the Indonesian Masters which gets going today at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.

With world No. 2 Justin Rose back to defend his crown and Swede ace Henrik Stenson, 2018 Asian Tour top player Shubhankar Sharma, South African Justin Harding and Sanghyun Park of Korea as the other top draws, the Filipino aces indeed face an uphill battle in the $750,000 event serving as the final leg of this year’s Asian Tour.

But one thing that could go for the Pinoy shotmakers is their early tee starts with Que drawing South African Jbe Kruger and Thai Phachara Khongwatmai at 6:50 a.m. on No. 10 with Tabuena setting out next at 7 a.m. with Thai Panuphol Pittayarat and Khalin Joshi of India.

Que and Tabuena are coming into the event in top form and oozing with confidence with the former coming off a breakthrough win in Japan PGA Tour and the latter scoring an imposing victory in the recent Queen’s Cup in Thailand.

Lascuña, on the other hand, will start at 8 a.m., also at the backside, with Benita Kasiadi of Indonesia and Thammanoon Sriroj of Thailand with the former three-time Philippine Golf Tour OOM winner hard-pressed to come up with a good start coming off a winless season back home.

But focus will surely be on Rose, who hopes to live up to the hype as he slugs it out with Sharma in an early clash of the favorites with local ace Danny Masrin joining the featured flight at 11:50 a.m. on the first hole.

The power-hitting Stenson, meanwhile, mixes it up with American John Catlin and India’s Anirban Lahiri at 7:10 a.m. on No. 10 while Harding kicks off his drive at 11:30 a.m. on the first hole with Thai Jazz Janewattananond and Viraj Madappa of India.