Chase begins for RP Ladies Open crown

The ICTSI-Philippine Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship fires off today with the cream of the country’s ladies crop and a slew of talented foreign players battling it out for top honors at the Manila Southwoods’ Legends Course in Carmona, Cavite.

Premium will be on club selection as the field, headed by titleholder Chihiro Ikeda, back-to-back reigning national champion Anya Tanpinco and three-time Junior World titlist Dottie Ardina, braces for a windy outing in the next three days at the bunker-laden layout with wide open fairways and large greens.

“It will be a wide-open race but it will all boil down to whoever makes the right club selection in tackling the wind,” said national team coach Bong Lopez, whose wards in the ICTSI golf stable are expected to lead the chase for the championship in the event organized by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines (WGAP).

Indonesia’s Ines Putri Chandra and Korean Lee Jeong-Hwa will be two of the local bets’ toughest challengers in the 54-hole championship owing to their top form and solid games, according to Lopez.

Chandra is one of four Indonesians seeing action in the event, sponsored by ICTSI (International Container Terminal Services Inc.), the Philippine Sports Commission, San Miguel, Pagcor and Nike, while Lee is coming off a runner-up finish in last year’s DHL Open won by Ikeda.

Still, focus will be on Ikeda, Tanpinco and Ardina, who are expected to pour it all out for the victory, momentum and confidence they would need to boost their respective campaigns this year.

The event is backed by HSBC, Zenorex, De Capricho Jewellers, Chemical Applicators, Baileys, Bug Buster, RCBC, Bingo Bonanza, Titleist, Pancake House, Rapide, Callaway, Inquirer Golf, Skycable Platinum, Balls, Lifestyle Network, Metro Society and Working Mom.

Ikeda, who beat Lydia Ivana Jaya of Indonesia by three shots in a stirring come-from-behind victory last year, hopes to come out with a strong start this time but the 17-year-old Fil-Japanese is expected to encounter stiff challenge early on from her ICTSI teammates.

They include Ardina, who is raring to annex the crown as she resumes her studies in the US next week as an ICTSI golf scholar, and Tanpinco, out to add the title to her growing list of victories.

Others in the fold are Sarah Ababa and Louise Manalo, Southwoods’ Sunshine Baraquiel, Cangolf’s Lucy Landicho, Riviera’s Maria Andrea Legaspi, Eva Minoza and Kristine Leonin of Del Monte and Crystal and Princess Superal of Orchard.

Joining Chandra and Lee in the foreign roster are Malaysian Diane Luke, Lilibeth De Rossi and Jenny Park of the US, Koreans JI Hyun Lee, Ji Yeon Li, So Won Lee and Jeong Hwa Lee and Indonesians Dita Widyanatri and Victory Chandra Tjiong,

Other clubs represented are Sta. Elena, Eagle Ridge, Valley Golf, Orchard, Riviera, Tagaytay Highlands, Alta Vista, Forest Hills, Pueblo de Oro, Cangolf, Del Monte, Navy and Southwoods.