Miñoza skips RP Open, plays in Japan

Frankie Miñoza has decided to play in the Japan PGA Tour next week, leaving the Philippine Open without the country’s top player when it is staged May 25-28 at Wack Wack’s east course.

This marks the third straight year that the 46-year-old Miñoza will not see action in the country’s premier golf championship following a miscommunication with organizers of the event during the 2004 Open at Riviera.

Miñoza, who won his first RP Open crown at Riviera’s Couples course in 1998, withdrew on the eve of the 2004 Open, the pro-am event, after his Japanese guests were disallowed to compete in the tournament proper despite being assured of playing slots.

But then NGAP (National Golf Association of the Phils.) president Benny Gopez stood pat on his decision not to let Miñoza’s guests play, saying all the slots, including the sponsors invitees’, have already been filled up.

Miñoza also didn’t see action in the 2005 Open at Mt. Malarayat.

But with the Asian Tour now in charge of the Open the next three years, AT officials have invited Miñoza to play and lead the locals’ bid against a slew of talented foreign field in this year’s Open, which is also making its comeback at its old home at Wack Wack.

However, Miñoza opted to see action in the Mitsubishi Diamond Cup Golf at the Sayama Golf Club in Saitama, the seventh leg of the Japan PGA Tour, scheduled on the same week as the RP Open.

Having regained his card in the lucrative Japan PGA Tour, Miñoza hopes to do well this year even as he starts his campaign in the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup beginning today at the Tojigaoka Marine Hills Golf Club in Okayama.

With Miñoza out, focus will be on the likes of Juvic Pagunsan, who beat Minñoza in sudden death to claim his first title as a pro in The Country Club Invitational last February, and Angelo Que, winner of the Carlsberg Masters of the Asian Tour in 2004.

Other RP bets expected to vie for top honors are Cassius Casas, the last Filipino to win the Open at Wack Wack in 2001, former RP Open champions Gerald Rosales and Robert Pactolerin in 1990.

The foreign challenge will be led by defending champion Adam Le Vesconte of Australia, who held off Rosales in the final round to run away with the crown.