PAST champions, including last year’s winner Angelo Que, ace
shot maker Frankie Minoza and a resurgent Mars Pucay, have been tipped to clash
for top honors in the P4.5 million The Country Club Invitational beginning
tomorrow.
From the looks of things, however, The Country Club course
is the overwhelming favorite to come out on top this week.
While the country’s top players have tested practically the
toughest courses in the country and around the region, the par-70 TCC still has
so much to offer, with its character varying from one hole to another,
particularly in the presence of the winds.
The unusual rain the past few days also rendered the course
soggy and longer, further adding challenge to the golfers who will have to
contend with the water hazards that come into play on all but two holes and
thick roughs that punish wayward shots.
"The rain made the course tougher. The key here is course
management and a good start," said Cassius Casas, the inaugural champion in
2003.
No player among the elite cast of 30 could boast of the
so-called familiarity with the course, giving everybody an equal chance and
making the chase for the top P1.3 million top prize doubly exciting.
An 18-hole pro-am event will be held today with cash prizes
at stake for the pros and fabulous prizes up for grabs for guest amateurs from
the business sector and other fields.
The pro-am also serves as a prelude to the keenly awaited
four-day championship that has grown in prize money and prestige since ICTSI
chairman Ricky Razon put up the event in 2003 in honor of his father Don
Pocholo, an avid golfer.
Que will be a marked man as he tries to become the first
back-to-back winner of the event. But a host of others, including former
champions Tony Lascuna, Jerome Delariarte, Juvic Pagunsan and Casas, are going
all out to foil his bid.
Minoza is also coming off a fine season, winning the RP Open
and the ABC Championship on the Japan PGA Tour, and is expected to flash his
vintage form for the crown he missed in 2006 when he lost to Pagunsan in a
thrilling sudden death.
There is also Pucay, the former amateur hotshot who has won
two legs in the inaugural staging of the Asean Tour late last year.
Others in the fold are former runners-up Elmer Salvador and
Cookie La’O, Asian Tour leg champion Artemio Murakami, former RP Open winners
Gerald Rosales and Robert Pactolerin, Demetrio Sanchez, Benjie Magada, Richard
Sinfuego, Ruben Sasutil, Anthony Balan, Marlon Dizon, Marvin Dumandan, Peter
Minoza, Luis Dacudao, Danny Zarate, Rey Pagunsan, Carito Villaroman, Ramil
Bisera, Jay Bayron, Michael Bibat, Raymund Sangil, Jun Rates and Orlan Sumcad.
