Miguel Tabuena continued his love affair with the Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed golf course, winning the ICTSI Luisita Championship for the second straight year with a closing seven-under-par 65 in Tarlac on Friday.
“It’s just something about this course where I feel very comfy. This is my fifth win at Luisita alone,” said Tabuena who finished on 14-under 274.
“It’s something about the greens, the atmosphere, the history, the people watching every year. It feels like home and hopefully, I will have time to come back next year.”
Starting the day one shot behind Ira Alido, the 25-year-old Asian Tour regular started with a bogey but rallied with a flurry of birdies bridging the two nines.
He birdied 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 and 13 before dropping a shot on 15 and another birdie on 16.
“The turning point was actually when I caught Ira (Alido) on the ninth hole. But there were still so many holes left,” Tabuena said.
Back-to-back birdies at the start of the back nine pushed Alido in front by one but Tabuena responded with a two-shot swing on 12 which he birdied.
The lead went up to two when Tabuena birdied 13. He sealed the win with a birdie on 16.
Alido settled for second on 12-under following a 68.
“Nothing really went wrong. I just had a couple of bad breaks. Overall, it went really good. Miguel (Tabuena) just played better,” Alido said. “We were going back and forth but there were some shots that I wished I could’ve taken them back.”
Tabuena picked up the winner’s check of P350,000 while Alido settled for P236,000 out of the P2-million pot.
The newly-crowned champion had nothing but praise for Alido.
“Ira is a hell of a player, He just won a few months ago and he has big things coming for him,” said Tabuena who won the Philippine Open also at Luisita in 2015.
Fidel Concepcion enhanced a promising career with a third-place finish, charging back with a solid 66 spiked by a three-birdie binge from 13 for a 279 total while Clyde Mondilla sizzled for a 66 for fourth place on 281.
Zanieboy Gialon and Michael Bibat tied for fifth on 282 after a 69 and 70, respectively, while Tony Lascuña shot a bogey-free 68 for joint seventh on 284 with Frankie Miñoza, who fumbled with a 75.
The leading scores:
274 — Miguel Tabuena 72-68-69-65
276 — Ira Alido 71-70-67-68
279 — Fidel Concepcion 72-69-72-66
281 — Clyde Mondilla 76-69-70-66
282 — Michael Bibat 66-73-73-70, Zanieboy Gialon 65-74-74-69
284 — Tony Lascuna 71-73-72-68, Frankie Minoza 69-69-71-75
285 — Jhonnel Ababa 70-76-71-68
286 — Jay Bayron 71-67-72-76, Angelo Que 73-69-70-74, Atsushi Ueda 71-72-70-73
287 — Rho Hyun Ho 71-75-68-73, Nilo Salahog 71-72-74-70, Dino Villanueva 71-74-68-74
288 — Art Arbole 74-69-75-70, Keanu Jahns 71-72-74-71, Keanu Jahns 71-72-74-71, Reymon Jaraula 73-74-71-70, Sean Jean Ramos 71-73-74-70.
