Asistio, Eustaquio rally to capture ICTSI crown

LIPA City, Batangas – Former national players Tonton Asistio and Jude Eustaquio battled back from three down with four holes to go in regulation then edged Jelbert Gamolo and Jolo Magcalayo in the playoff to snare the ICTSI National Pro-am Open crown at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

Asistio hacked a superb 7-iron approach shot from 180 yards on the par-4 18th of Mt. Malipunyo to within a foot in sudden death to the delight of the big gallery that ringed the green then Eustaquio calmly sank it to clinch the victory as Magcalayo’s tying birdie-putt from 40 feet out fell short.

“It’s great. When we compete, we’re expecting something great,” said Eustaquio whose partnership with Asistio dates way back to their junior days.

“I really have the inkling of winning here because we’ve been playing together since we were eight years old. We knew each other well,” added Eustaquio, who also teamed up with Asistio in the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.

Asistio took the top 1360,000 purse, for his first pro win, while Eustaquio, a golf director at Forest Hills, received a trophy and gift prizes from Mt. Malarayat GCC chairman Antonio Torralba.

Gamolo and Magcalayo actually came out better than second round coleaders Raymund Gonzales and Iñigo Raymundo in a fierce final round duel, hitting back-to-back birdies from No. 13 to build a three-shot cushion over the Gonzales-Raymundo and AsistioEustaquio pairs.

But they stumbled and fumbled with bogeys in the next two holes.