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Frankie
Miñoza had said that to become champion of the
Philippine Open, one has to beat the tough East course
of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.
But the
stakes just got higher.
With the
unexpected strong rains that poured Wednesday—rendering
the tree-lined fairways of the unforgiving 7,053-yard
layout soft and soggy, Miñoza said it has become even
more difficult defending his crown, as the 92nd edition
of the $300,000 Open gets underway Thursday.
“To be
the best this week, I have to beat the East. If not,
anybody has a chance at the title provided he conquers
the course,” said Miñoza, who is one of 53 Filipino pros
and amateurs in the 156-player field seeing action in
Asia’s prestigious and oldest national golf
championship.
Armed
with a new putter with a large grip, Miñoza tees off at
7:20 a.m. with former Asian Tour No. 1 Thaworn
Wiratchant of Thailand and 2008 Asian Tour Invitational
winner Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei—a flight that all
but makes the Open more exciting on the very first day.
When he
learned of his schedule and flightmates, Miñoza
quipped: “It is all right and I don’t mind at all.”
Gerald
Rosales, last year’s runner-up, will be with 2005 RP
Open champion Adam Le Vesconte of
Australia
and Gaganjeet Bhullar of India in the late-morning
flight.
Three-time Junior World Golf champion Carito Villaroman,
who topped the 36-hole Open qualifier conducted by the
National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) at
the Villamor Golf Club, also starts his bid for his
first Open title.
“The RP
Open has been so elusive. I hope to be able to get it
this time,” said Villaroman, a member of the Touring
Professional Golfers Association of the Philippines (TPGAP),
the only pro golfers group recognized by the Asian Tour.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Philippine
Airlines and Stradcom are the major sponsors of the
annual tournament organized by the Asian Tour and
sanctioned by the NGAP. Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila,
Pin High Golf, Srixon, Johnnie Walker, Media Arts
Yielding Ads Inc., Motorola and 100 Plus are the
backers.
Wen-tang
on the rise
Chinese
Taipei’s Ling Wen-tang loomed as a strong contender for
the crown, perhaps after Scott Barr, who is No. 13 on
the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
With the
way Lin played against the top players in the Asian Tour
International, which he convincingly won after a
final-round eight-under 64, it will not be surprising to
see him crowding Miñoza for the coveted title.
“I had
an easier time at the Asian Tour International but I
think in the Philippine Open it will be harder. I know
my good friend Frankie [Miñoza] is very popular in
Manila and I believe he is still the man to watch out
for this week,” Lin told the BusinessMirror.
Unlike
Miñoza, Lin is not daunted by the East course. In fact,
he attacked the greens with sheer aggressiveness and
precision and netted six birdies and only two bogeys for
a four-under 68 card in the Pro-Am side event Wednesday.
“I’ve
played the East of Wack Wack when I was still a junior
amateur so I know where to place my shots. The course
presents more of a mental game and one has to be heady
and steady here. And also, I would rely on my good luck
for good measure,” he said, tongue in cheek.
“There
isn’t much difference with the course when I first saw
it. Although, the rough areas around the greens are
shorter, the greens are [very] sloping and fast now,”
said Lin, who has three career victories in the Asian
Tour.
No.
17—the dreaded hole
IT is
ironic to see amateurs and even some professional
golfers work on their drivers on the driving range,
rather than on their wedges and putters—acknowledged as
the short irons or the “scoring clubs.”
But Wack
Wack, particularly its East course, offers an antidote
for that common mistake.
The East
layout provides an opportunity for players to develop
their short game without seemingly doing so. It also
gives each player the chance to make the most
difference, especially in this Open. But why the short
irons?
Well,
for one, even the best Asian Tour players have high
regard to the par 72, 7,053-yard East simply because to
play well on the course, one has to be great and steady
on approach shots and putting strokes, particularly in
one dreaded hole—the No. 17, formerly the eighth hole.
Former
RP Open champion Cassius Casas could attest to that
because he made an incredible 12 in a previous RP Open.
“I’d
rather forget what happened on that hole. It was simply
a nightmare. I guess I got too adventurous that day,”
said Casas, now an assistant coach in the International
Containers Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) golf program.
Considered by many as the signature hole of Wack Wack,
No. 17 is a short 168-yard par-3 which is often the
make-or-break hole during tournaments, whether big or
small. The green is elevated and it is easy for a ball
to roll down to any of the six deep bunkers guarding it.
“If your
ball is in any of the last two bunkers on the side, it
is easy to make a 10 or a 12, just like what happened to
me,” Casas added.
Stradcom
official sponsor
Stradcom
Corp., the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) private
sector technology partner and the leading Filipino
Information Technology (IT) company engaged in
government IT projects is the official sponsor of the
Open.
Stradcom
Corp. is the private proponent in the LTO-IT Project
which is the government’s first major IT project under
the build–own–operate (BOO) option in the BOT law.
In this
arrangement, Stradcom committed to shoulder 100 percent
of the project cost, ranging from the development of
software and procedures, providing equipment and
logistics, refurbishing LTO offices, training of LTO
personnel and the continuous upgrade of the system. |
