JAY Bayron faces a formidable challenge when he defends his crown in the Aboitiz Invitational presented by the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) next week with the already talent-laden field toughened up by a slew of foreign players from the Asian Development Tour (ADT).
“I’ve been hitting the ball well although it will be tough. But I’ll be ready,” said the soft-spoken Bayron in Filipino.
The ace Davaoeño humbled a stellar field to capture the inaugural Aboitiz Invitational crown at the Cebu Country Club (CCC) last year, beating Juvic Pagunsan by two, then went on to win the Order of Merit title on the ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour.
This time, however, Bayron is expected to encounter stiff resistance, not only from the red-hot Pagunsan, who won four of the local tour’s first nine legs this year, and the other local aces but also from the ADT leading players, including Taipei’s Hsu Chia-Jen, TJ Kim of Korea and Nick Redfern of England, who are among the top 15 players on the ADT Order of Merit (OOM) rankings.
The winner of the Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship, slated this week, will also be in the fold when the 10th leg of the ICTSI-PGT and the seventh leg of the ADT is held from August 31 to September 3 in Cebu.
The par-72 CCC layout is being spruced up in time for the 72-hole championship, which stakes a total prize fund of $65,000 (P2.7 million), the first Philippine event to feature on the fledgling circuit.
Asia’s rising stars, headed by Filipinos Artemio Murakami, Carl Santos-Ocampo and Miguel Tabuena, Brunei’s Faiz Damit and Malaysia’s Khor Kheng Hwai are also in the fold along with ADT leg winner Chiang Chen-chih of Taiwan, Americans Jonathan Moore and Matthew Rosenfeld and Dutch Guido van der Valk, who finished eighth last year.
The Aboitiz Invitational was launched last year as a domestic event on the ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour, as one of the final tournaments of the season on the ADT, the event will play an important role in determining the top three players on the Order of Merit. The leading three money-earners will gain an automatic card on the elite Asian Tour for the 2012 season.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures has an impressive portfolio of businesses, which include power, banking and food.
The other backers of the event are MJ Carr Golf Management, Inc., Srixon, Callaway, Unilab, BDO, Titleist, Sharp, Custom Clubmakers, Mizuno, Empire Golf & Sports Shop, PinoyGolfer.com, Inquirer Golf, Omnisource International, A Round of Golf, Studio 23, Balls, and Dynamic Sports.
In Photo: Jay Bayron says he is ready for the tournament in Cebu.
