Heidi begins quest for win No. 3

CEBU CITY — The 40th Southern Ladies Open, the country’s longest-running golf tournament for women amateurs, starts today at the exclusive Cebu Country Club here.

Considered the No. 1 breeding ground for future stars of the sport, the tournament has drawn the country’s top lady par busters, led by reigning back-to-back Philippine Ladies Open champion Heidi Chua.

The 26-year-old Chua is actually aiming to make it three straight this early in the year, adding to her victories in the RP Ladies Open at Manila Golf Club and the DHL-NGAP Open at Canlubang last week.

Expected to give her tough battle, among others, are Aileen Rose Yao, Carmelette Villaroman, Lucy Landicho, and Lina de Guzman, the defending champion from Canlubang.

Eric Buhain, chair of the Philippine Sports Commission, opened the competition yesterday by spearheading the hitting of the ceremonial tee shot of the 54-hole series now observing its Ruby Celebration (40 years).

Other titles staked are in Classes, A,B,C and D in the tournament sponsored by PAL, Philippine Sports Commission, DHL Worldwide Express/WWW Express, Marriot Hotel-Cebu, Petron, San Miguel Corporation, Smart Communications, Inc., Mitsubishi Motors, Mizuno, Hans Brumann, WG&A Super Ferry, Directories Phils. Inc., Nike, Hidden Spring and Perrier and Gopez Corp.

"We take pride in holding for the 40th straight year our tournament, which has always been at the forefront of giving the game’s future and present stars a forum to pit their skills against one another," said Alice Ll. Andrada, the NGAP’s treasurer and chair of the Ladies Committee.

Chua, a virtual unknown, burst into the national scene when she won at Pueblo del Oro in Cagayan de Oro in 2000. She repeated the feat in 2001 in Bacolod, earning her a slot in the RP Team in that year’s SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Other notables who won the Southern Ladies and went on to scale heights included Dominga Capati, Nora Mateo, Mercedes Feliciano, Sonia Tugot, Sylvia Torres, Grace Ebalde, Yvette de Leon, Mary Grace Estuesta and LPGA campaigner Jennifer Rosales.

Rosales is now a regular campaigner in the LPGA Tour in the United States while Estuesta had seen action in the European Tour.