Jungolf tiff underway

Standouts of the highly-successful 2001 summer circuit of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines settle the issue on who’s the best when the Jungolf Tournament of Champions is held starting today at the Tat Filipinas course in San Pedro, Laguna. Tee-off time is 9:30 a.m.

The top 10 jungolfers in each five age-group classifications will be leading the field in the 54-hole culmination of a 10-leg, Luzon-wide circuit sponsored by Northwest Airlines as the official carrier.

Merwin Mediana, president of Jungolf, said that as an added requirement, only jungolfers who had played in a minimum of four legs in the circuit will be allowed to see action.

The tournament will also determine the composition of the Philippine delegation to the Junior World Championships in San Diego, California and the Optimist International in Florida this coming July. The entire team will be flown to the US by Northwest.

There are 24 slots to be disputed for each of the San Diego and Florida trips where Jungolf chair Amalia Montecillo will again serve as head of the contingent.

"We’ve been blessed with a very active field this year. But what is more important here is that we have seen a lot of promising talents who can spark our drive for glory in the US," said Mediana.

The players to watch are Artemio Murakami and Katrina Gonzales in Class A, Asian junior champ Judson Eustaquio and Jayvie Agojo in Class B, Tonton Asistio and Gerileen Handog in Class C, John Kier Abdon and Debbie de Villa in Class D and Joshua Uy in Class E.