Jennifer Rosales golf story

Numbers help define Jennifer Rosales, now in Hawaii to defend the SBS Open crown beginning Feb. 16. As a golfer, she’s won just two tournaments in her six years on the LPGA Tour, one in stirring come-from-behind fashion and the other in wire-to-wire style.

As a fashion diva on the tour, JRo has dozens of bandannas, 10 big-buckled belts, nine ear piercings, four tattoos and her own line of clothing.

But what motivates Rosales as she opens her 2006 campaign is that she’ll be playing almost 100 percent.

"My wrist is okay now so I hope I can do better this year," said Rosales, referring to the injury that hampered her campaign last year.

Rosales took a lot of rest during the off-season. In fact, she decided to forego her stint in the recent Women’s World Cup to give her wrist more time to heal.

"I just don’t want to re-injure it, that why I’m resting so much. I want to play better because I want to be up there," she said.

Rosales left for Hawaii Sunday, hopeful of her title-retention campaign in the SBS Open with a new backer although she will be up against a formidable field that includes some of the finest players on the circuit at Turtle Bay’s Resort’s Palmer course in Oahu.

Rosales fashioned out a stirring wire-to-wire victory in the inaugural staging of the $1 million event last year, firing rounds of 66, 69 and 73 and beating then amateur sensation Michelle Wie and Cristie Kerr by two strokes.

But it has been a roller-coaster ride the rest of the season for the five-time RP Ladies Open champion as she re-injured her wrist several legs later, forcing her to withdraw from a number of big-time tournaments, including the British Open.

Still, she recovered towards the end, finishing 26th in the ADT Order of Merit with earnings of $514,279 and even saw action in the Lexus Cup, which pitted the best of the world against the finest players in Asia.

"My target this year to finally win a major, hopefully the US Women’s Open," said Rosales, who blew her bid in 2004 when she led in the final round only to falter with a 75. She wound up fourth and could only come up with a joint 23rd place finish last year.

This time, however, she’s confident of dishing out a solid game and contending for the crown in the richest ($3.1 million) event slated June 29-July in Newport, Richmond.

Boosting the former US NCAA Division I champion’s confidence is the entry of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. as her patron for this year’s campaign where she also hopes to surpass the $1 million mark in winnings.

"In behalf of ICTSI chairman and president Ricky Razon Jr., we would like to announce that we’re so proud to be Jenny’s partner as she resumes her campaign on the LPGA Tour," said Narlene "Nana" Soriano of ICTSI during the launching of 2006 The Country Club Invitational over the weekend.