Erap Cup brass denies NGAP rap

The Erap Cup Foundation yesterday denied the allegations made by the National Golf Association of the Philippines over the weekend that the ECF, which stages the annual Erap Cup, wants to take control of the NGAP affairs.

The foundation said it was the NGAP which first approached the ECF for financial support, specifically to fund the Philippine Open, a move NGAP president Rod Feliciano admitted during the re-launching of the event last Friday.

However, the ECF officials said because of the "tarnished reputation" of the NGAP, the foundation was hesitant to extend the golf body financial support. It said it took into account reports from the country’s professional golfers and previous sponsors that there were alleged financial improprieties and mismanagement at the NGAP.

The ECF cited the $2 million donated by Ericsson for the Ericsson Tour in 1998, which allegedly remains unaccounted for up to this day.

It further said its officials had become apprehensive that financial support given to the NGAP might go the way of the Ericsson donation. And to ensure that any financial support extended to the NGAP will be used properly, the ECF thought it best to have ECF directors sit at the NGAP board.

It then proposed that six ECF officials be included in the 11-man NGAP board in exchange for the $200,000 the NGAP needed to stage the RP Open in compliance with the Asian PGA Tour’s minimum requirement in total prize money.

The NGAP branded the move as "blackmail."

The ECF, however, pointed out that this condition was only in the event that the NGAP accepted the ECF support.

At the same time, the ECF deplored the finger-pointing by the NGAP, saying that it appears to be a ploy on the part of NGAP to cover up for its inability to fund a tournament. Instead of being defensive, the NGAP officials must instead explain what they have done with the alleged missing funds.

Feliciano, who was elected only early this year, has maintained that the NGAP offered the ECF to handle its own funds in the event it would support the RP Open.