Pro-am kicks off $.2M Casino Open

Action in the inaugural $200,000 Casino Filipino Open golf tournament gets going today with the staging of the pro-am event at the Masters course of Manila Southwoods.

Sixty pros, led by Frankie Miñoza, and 180 amateurs will make up 60 foursomes playing in the prelude to the 72-hole event starting tomorrow.

Participants will tee off in shotgun starts at 6:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the par-72, 7,369-yard course which tournament director Jeric Hechanova said is ready for "the big thing."

Miñoza, on a break from the rich Japanese Tour, will play in the presidential flight with Southwoods chairman Robert Sobrepeña, Jaime Dichavez and Ramlan Harun of the Asian PGA Tour.

Among the pros competing are Cassius Casas, Danny Zarate and Rodrigo Cuello, Anthony Kang of South Korea, Zaw Moe of Myanmar, Korean Kim Jong-duck and Taiwan's Yeh Wei-tze, who won the Malaysian Open last week.

Merchandise items will go to the amateur winners in the pro-am event while the top pros will receive cash prizes.