Miñoza leads RP cast

Frankie Miñoza hopes to jumpstart his campaign this year on a bright note as he leads a crack list of seven Filipino shotmakers vying for top honors against the best players in the region in the $200,000 President’s Invitational Pro-Am tournament at the Manila Southwoods on Jan. 25-28.

Miñoza, whose stint in the Japan PGA Tour last year was marred by poor finishes, has vowed to come up with an impressive stint this year and has set his sight on no less than the coming $200,000 tournament at the Southwoods’ Masters Course next week.

In fact, he wanted to be here as early as Saturday to re-familiarize himself with the testy hazard-laden layout, which Miñoza had failed to conquer in his past campaigns and whose conditions vary from hole-to-hole especially if the winds come into play.

"Frankie has confirmed his participation," said Manila Southwoods chair Bob Sobrepeña. "In fact, he vowed to win this particular event at Southwoods."

Miñoza’s participation is expected to lend prestige and class to the unique 72-hole event, held in coordination with the Office of the President and which serves as the kickoff leg of this year’s Asian PGA Tour, otherwise known as the Davidoff Tour.

The event is also being held to help put up the seed money for the re-staging of the local golf circuit.

Joining Miñoza in the elite field of 66 are regular APGA campaigners Cassius Casas, Rodrigo Cuello, Danny Zarate and reigning Philippine Open champion Gerald Rosales. The two other local bets are Robert Pactolerin and Mars Pucay, who like Miñoza are given sponsors’ exemptions.

Simon Dyson of England, who topped the Order of Merit last year with $282,371.29, will spearhead the foreign field which also includes No. 2 Jyoti Randhawa of India and Yeh Wei-Tze of Taiwan.

The President’s Invitational Pro-Am Cup is the first of such format in the Asian PGA Tour. In fact, it is one of only two pro-am events which count in the world rankings, the first being the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Under the unique format, each pro will be assigned two amateurs who will play 36 holes each using their respective handicaps. Aside from the individual pro and tour events, there will also be a separate competition for amateurs using their full handicaps.

Unlike typical legs, there will be no cuts for the pros.

Sobrepeña added that the money to be raised from the tournament, through corporate sponsorships, will be used to boost local pro again after Philip Morris withdrew its sponsorship of the circuit following the worldwide clamor to ban tobacco advertising.

"Hopefully, we can start the local golf series by the second quarter, which will be sanctioned by the Asian PGA Tour and partly financed by the proceeds of the President’s Invitational Pro-Am Cup," said Sobrepeña.

"The President’s Invitational Pro-Am Cup will only be the start of our big involvement with golf starting this year," added Sobrepeña. "The number of tournaments could go higher depending on the support of other golf clubs."

Under the plan envisioned by Sobrepeña, participating golf clubs will be asked to shoulder half of the purse — P500,000 — with the other half provided by them.