Tagaytay City—The first of two Philippine editions of the Mercedes-Benz Tour formally opens on Wednesday with the top 30 Asean golfers and 90 amateurs vying for top honors in the pro-am side event slated at the rolling course of the Tagaytay Midlands Golf and Country Club course.

Filipino professionals Angelo Que, Artemio Murakami, Mars Pucay and Antonio Lascuna and last week’s Mercedes-Benz Masters inaugural event champion Lam Chih-Bing headline the pro-am festivity, which would also serve as a practice round for the big event which starts on Thursday.

These players, plus Malaysian Danny Chia and Indonesians Denny Supriadi and Maan Nasim, to name a few, were regulars on the five-leg tour in 2007 when it was still called the Asean Golf Tour.  Two of the legs were won by Pucay, while Que and Chia won once each.

This year the Asean Golf Tour has become the Mercedes-Benz Tour with Mercedes-Benz as the title sponsor.  The new tour, through Mercedes-Benz’s local counterpart CATS Motors Inc., boasts of 10 events, doubled from last year. 

In addition, all tournaments boast of prize money of $50,000, which is apart from the season-ending $75,000 Mercedes-Benz Tour championship set in Thailand in November.

“Mercedes-Benz, particularly in the Philippines, is very excited to be part of the professional golf tour.  The leading German auto company worldwide aims to nurture the current and upcoming Asean golf stars,” CATS Motors chairman Greg Yu and president Felix Ang said.

Yu and Ang praised the Tagaytay Midlands, which has already hosted several Ateneo-La Salle duels and the Ferderation Golf Club League, for its wonderful course maintenance which could translate into an outstanding tournament this week.

“The Tagaytay Midlands is always in tip-top, championship-caliber condition.  It is both an honor and pleasure for the club to host the Mercedes-Benz Tour which is doing so much to help the country’s pro golf industry,” Dan Salvador, Tagaytay Midlands golf director, said.

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Tagaytay City—The first of two Philippine editions of the Mercedes-Benz Tour formally opens on Wednesday with the top 30 Asean golfers and 90 amateurs vying for top honors in the pro-am side event slated at the rolling course of the Tagaytay Midlands Golf and Country Club course.

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