Asian, Asean Tour vets invited to Phl Open

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Open Golf Championship will not only be a battle among the top local shotmakers but will also include a number of Asian and Asean Tour campaigners when the 94th staging of the country’s premier golfing event is held Dec. 15-18 at the Valley Golf Club in Antipolo.

The organizing National Golf Association of the Philippines has invited the leading players on the Asian and Asean circuits to the four-day championship, which stakes a total prize of P2 million and caps the country’s golfing season.

“We expect a number of top players on the Asian Tour and even on the ASEAN Circuit to come and slug it out with our leading shotmakers,” said NGAP president Larry Mendoza. “Their presence will indeed be a big plus to tournament in terms of talent and level of play.”

This marks the second straight time that the NGAP will be staging the Phl Open on a December date after Elmer Salvador bested a star-studded field to win last year’s staging at Mt. Malarayat.

San Miguel Corp. has come in as the event’s major sponsor with Pagcor, Orient Pearl, Amalgamated Motors (Phils.) Inc., CATS, Inc. and friends of NGAP as backers and Mitsubishi and Club Car Phls. as hole-in-one sponsors and A Round of Golf as media partner.

Registration is ongoing with fee pegged at P3,000 for local players and $70 for foreign entries. Deadline for listup is on Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. The field will have a minimum of 120 players, including pros and amateurs. For deails, contact NGAP at 02-5179778/5577849, Susan (0917-5607074) or Charlyn (0922-8234758) or telefax 02-7065926 or email [email protected].

The traditional pro-am tournament will be held Dec. 14, featuring the top pros and amateurs along with the event’s sponsors, VIPs, Valley Golf Club members and NGAP board members.

The top 50 players, plus ties and amateurs, after 36 holes in the tournament proper will advance to the final 36 holes with tie/s for first to be decided via sudden death playoffs.

The local field will include the top 60 players of the ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit ranking, to be led by Jay Bayron and Juvic Pagunsan, the members of the national team and other pros who will qualify in the one-day pre-qualifying tournament before the championship, according to NGAP.