Pagunsan, Delariarte head stellar cast in DHL-NGAP Open

The DHL-NGAP Amateur Open Golf Championship comes off the wraps today at the Canlubang Golf and Country Club’s North course with a stellar cast and one question to settle.

Who’ll be the next dominant man in amateur golf?

Southeast Asian Games champion Juvic Pagunsan and national amateur titlist Jerome Delariarte lead the bidders in this event presented by DHL Worldwide Express and WWW Express, each one a likely candidate to succeed now pro Angelo Que on the throne.

The eighth edition of the DHL Open should help settle that in four days and 72 holes of top-level golf at the Canlubang North course that demands only the utmost precision and power from the bidders-traits that the next big man in amateur golf should have.

"Philippine amateur golf is looking forward to a big year and the DHL Open should start us off on the right foot," said National Golf Association of the Philippines president and DHL chairman Rod Feliciano.

The first major tournament in the amateur golf calendar kicks off at 7:30 a.m. with the ceremonial tee-off that would have NGAP president and Rod Feliciano, DHL International Country Manager Charles Brewer, WWW express managing director Joe Feliciano, NGAP vice-president Admiral Luisito Fernandez, Canlubang general manager Oscar Papa and WWW express comptroller Dawn Feliciano doing the honors.

Marlon Dizon, last year’s champion who also has moved to the pro ranks, and Que will not be around this time, leaving the stage for Delariarte and Pagunsan—two talented golfers longing to break out and dominate the way Que did the past few years.

Delariarte, 24, and Pagunsan are the only remaining remnants of the Philippine team that placed a historic third in the last World Amateurs in Kuala Lumpur. And their play over the past few years has shown that either one is deserving of the honor.

But it will be by no means exclusively a two-horse race.

Out to crowd the two favorites are a host of bidders capable of winning it for themselves, among them are RP team members Jay Bayron and Paul Miñoza and the ageless Tommy Manotoc who, to this day, remains a threat in any tournament he plays.