RP Open returns to APGA fold

The Philippine Open, Asia’s oldest and the country’s most prestigious golf championship, will make its return to the Asian PGA Tour calendar next year with Wack Wack set to host the fabled event for the second straight time in March.

Organizers of the event, led by Wack Wack president Ben Abalos, and the Davidoff Tour officials, headed by executive director Ramlan Harun, have agreed in principle to stage the $175,000 event at Wack Wack’s east course during the Omega Hong Kong Open last November.

The tournament is slated March 7-10 and will serve as the sixth leg of this year’s circuit which offers a record prize money to mark the opening stretch of the 2002 season. Nearly US$5 million would be played for over nine events, $1 million more than the first nine tournaments of this year.

"The Philippine Open will help provide the Davidoff Tour with a great start to the year. The tournament is rich in history and is a popular event among all our members," said Harun.

The RP Open returned to Wack Wack last year with Cassius Casas ruling the rain-marred championship over a field that included a selected group of foreign players after majority of them begged off at the last minute at the height of kidnapping in the south.

With the RP Open back in the Davidoff Tour calendar, organizers of the event hope to draw the best players not only in the region, but in the US and European Tours as well, including top Filipino shotmaker Frankie Miñoza.

"It’s an honor for Wack Wack to host the RP Open again and we look forward to welcoming so many great players to our famous club," said Abalos.

The Asian PGA will kick off its 2002 season with the staging of the US$1.3 million Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karrinyup Golf Club in Perth, Australia on Jan. 24-27.

The prestigious event will be tri-sanctioned by the Asian PGA, European and Australasian Tours for the third year in a row. It will be bannered by all of the region’s top players as well as an impressive line up of star players including South African Ernie Els, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie of Scotland.

The Davidoff Tour then heads for the London Myanmar Open (Feb. 7-10), the Hero Honda Masters in India (Feb. 14-17), the Caltex Singapore Masters (Feb. 21-24) and the Carlsberg Malaysian Open (Feb. 28-March 3).

Both the Caltex and Carlsberg events, won by Fiji’s Vijay Singh this year, will be joint-sanctioned with the European Tour and boast lucrative purses of US$900,000 and US$1 million respectively.

After a week’s break the Davidoff Tour returns to the subcontinent for the Indian Open on March 14-17 and then the Philippine Open the following week.

The Maekyung LG Fashion Open in Korea will be played April 25-28 while the Macau Open is slated June 20-23 at the Macau Golf and Country Club.