P10-M at stake in Casino Filipino-RP Open

The Casino Filipino 87th Philippine Open will be held March 7-10 at Wack Wack East, with a minimum of nearly P10 million up for grabs.

Cassius Casas will be back to defend his title but he will have to contend with a tougher opposition this time as the main wave of players from the Asian PGA will be here.

The organizing National Golf Association of the Philippines has acceded to rejoin the Asian PGA in a historic moment for Philippine golf, giving the nation’s golfers bigger chances of winning more on the Asian PGA’s Davidoff Tour.

"We did it because we want our own pros to be exposed more to world-class competition while at the same time give them opportunities to earn more from the sport we all love," said Rod Feliciano, the NGAP president.

The winner’s purse is P1.5 million while the runner-up earns P1 million and the third-placer P.6 million in the tournament presented by San Miguel Beer.

Ben Abalos, president of Wack Wack, played a major role in the return of the RP Open, Asia’s oldest Open, to the APGA Davidoff Tour as he headed a high-powered delegation to Hong Kong in November to lay down the groundwork for it.

Joining Abalos in that delegation were, among others, Benny Gopez and S.P. Malbarosa, the RP’s Open top honchos in the organizing committee. Bones Floro, Wack Wack golf director, was also in that trip.

"It is always nice to see our country being integrated into the Asian golfing mainstream," said Abalos, who is also chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority. "The world has become too small for all of us that we need to move together as one, whether in golf or in other sphere of life."

Before Casas’ victory last year at Wack Wack, Robert Pactolerin won it in 1990, also at Wack Wack when the RP Open was then part of the Asian Tour.

Last year’s Top 5 in the Asian Order of Merit will join the RP Open, whose organizers have designated Mitsubishi Philippines as the official car. As a major sponsor Mitsubishi is giving away the hole-in-one prizes and cash to the organizing committee.

The five are Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (No. 1), Charlie Wi of South Korea, Andrew Pitts of the United States, Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and Arjun Atwal of India.

Among those present during yesterday’s press conference at Wack Wack were Ramlan Harun (executive director of the Asian PGA) and Justin Strachan (CEO of the Asian Tour Limited).