Filipino golfers start bid vs region's aces

GUANGZHOU – The Filipino golfers open their bid at the Dragon Lake Golf Club today with hopes high for the women’s team of Dottie Ardina, Chihiro Ikeda and Mia Piccio and the men’s squad of Mhark Fernando, Jerson Balasabas, Miguel Tabuena and Marcel Puyat.

The ladies squad is coming off a best-ever joint eighth finish in last month’s World Amateurs in Argentina although Ardina, Ikeda and Piccio will be going up against a field that includes South Korea, which ran away with the World Am crown in record fashion.

There are only nine teams vying in the ladies side of the event spread over four days with Lopez picking Korea, Japan, China and Thailand as their chief rivals.

Jung Eun Han, Ji Hee Kim and Joo Hyun Kim swept the first three places in the individual competition in the World Am and powered the team to a 17-stroke romp over the United States in team play.

“Although the girls can match up with their power, it will be a question of putting since the Koreans are very good and steady,” said Phl and ICTSI team coach Bong Lopez.

The Koreans are seeking to duplicate their sweep of both the men’s and ladies titles in the last Asiad in Doha, Qatar in 2006 where the Filipinos finished fifth in both divisions.

Michael Bibat, however, nipped Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang in the countback to bag the bronze medal.

The men’s squad faces a tougher challenge with 19 teams entered, headed by Korea, China, Japan and Thailand.