Wide-open battle looms in Samsung-RP Amateur

MANILA, Philippines – It will be a wide-open race when the cream of the country’s amateur crop slug it out for top honors in the 2009 Philippine Amateur Golf Championships presented by Samsung beginning June 3 at the Eastridge Golf Club in Binangonan, Rizal.

Jhonnel Ababa, fresh from his victory in the Sabah Amateur, heads the crack field that includes members of the ICTSI golf stable, led by Rufino Bayron, Antonio Asistio, Peter Villaber, Gino Bunyi, the comebacking Miko Alejandro and former Hong Kong Am champion Dante Becierra, the best-placed Filipino at sixth in last week’s Malaysian Amateur Open.

Others tipped to contend for the championship in the tournament, sponsored by Samsung are Ababa’s Calatagan teammates Mark Fernando, Alvin Engino, Jerson Balasabas, Zanie Boy Gialon and Paul Echavez.

Also in the fold are Southwoods’ Kim Jong Min and Miggy Yee, John Kier Abdon, Junjun Plana, Chepe Dulay, Kenneth John of the US, jungolfer Miguel Tabuena of Alabang, Fil-Am Nelson Muneses, perennial seniors champion Iggy Clavecilla plus a host of Korean players who call Eastridge their home, headed by Park Jung Soo.

Anya Tanpinco, meanwhile, goes for a three-peat in the ladies side of the event backed by Thunderbird Resorts, Wow Magic Sing, Mizuno, A Round of Golf, the Philippine Sports Commission, Inquirer Golf Monthly and hole-in-one sponsors Club Car, International Armoring Inc., Custom Clubmaker, Crestlink, ABW, Gargol and CranUTI.

Making the chase for the title doubly interesting is the battle for spots in the RP pool with the top 16 players after the stroke play phase in the first two days earning berths in the first of two sets of qualifiers that will select members of the RP squad, according to the organizing National Golf Association of the Phils.

The qualifiers will play in a 144-hole tournament where the top six will slug it out for the four RP team berths in another 144-hole event. The top finishers will make up the RP squad vying in the Nomura Cup on Sept. 15-18 in South Korea and possibly in the Putra Cup on Nov. 17-20 in Thailand.

Also on tap in the event, conducted by the NGAP and the Professional Sports Management Group, are the ladies division and the seniors category.