RP Open lures crack international field

LIPA CITY, Batangas–The international field will be represented well in the 89th Philippine Open at Club Malarayat, with a crack roster of Thais led by Thaworn Wiratchant out to deny the Filipinos in their national professional championship.

The absence of superstar Thongchai Jaidee in Asia’s oldest golf championship hardly put a dent on the chances of Thailand, with Wiratchant leading a 10-man team in the chase for the top prize of $31,500, up from $24,000 last year.

A five-time winner in the Asian Tour, including last month’s Jakarta Standard Chartered Indonesian Open, Wiratchant is second behind Jaydee in the Order of Merit with $262,656 in earnings this year, just $7,000 behind his countryman.

The 38-year-old veteran, winner of the 1987 Southeast Asian Games individual gold, will be joined in the Thai contingent by other notables such as Boonchu Ruangkit, Prom Meesawat and former junior star Wisut Artjanawat.

Defending champion Edward Michaels is not included in the initial roster, leaving Anthony Kang, the winner here in 1999 and Andrew Pitts, the former Acer Taiwan Open champ, to banner the American charge.

A US passport holder and a resident of Phoenix, Kang has not tasted victory in the Asian Tour since the 2001 Myanmar Open, as a total of 21 Australians, seven Americans, five Koreans and three Japanese made the exempt list.

Pitts, on the other hand, finished a career-high third in the OOM in 2001 when he won in Taipei and is 16th in earnings all-time with close to $600,000. He has 21 career top 10 finishes in the Asian Tour and now calls Phuket home.

The only Kiwi in the field, Richard Lee, winner of the Thai Airways International Thailand Open earlier in the year, is also another player to watch, together with Mardan Mamat of Singapore and Jason Dawes of Australia.