Shootout looms at Malarayat

MANILA, Philippines -  The $50,000 ICTSI-Mt. Malarayat Championship unwraps today at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas with a promise of a shootout between the talent-laden Thailand contingent and the top local gunners in the second leg of the ASEAN Golf Tour.

Atthaphon Prathummanee, runner-up to compatriot Prom Meesawat in the tour’s inaugurals last month in Thailand, spearheads the 21-player strong Thai delegation out to keep the crown won by Chawalit Plaphol last year. The other leading Thai players in the fold are Thanyakon Khrongpha, Wisut Artjanawat, Wiitawan Sae-ung, Ronnachai Jamnong, Ekalak Waisayakul and Panuwat Muenlek.

Plaphol beat top Filipino shotmaker Juvic Pagunsan by eight strokes to end Angelo Que’s back-to-back title romp in the 72-hole championship, a regular event on the ASEAN Golf Tour, sponsored by the International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

But Pagunsan, a former top Asian Tour rookie, has enjoyed top form in the early going of the season, winning three of the first four legs of the ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour, including back-to-back title runs in the ICTSI-Orchard Championship and the ICTSI Eastridge Classic.

That makes him the marked man in this week’s championship with Pagunsan going all out not only for the crown but also to erase the stigma of a series of poor performances at Mt. Malarayat. In the ICTSI Classic last April, Pagunsan shot 83 and 77 and miserably missed the cut.

But with a streak of victories, a confident Pagunsan is tipped to figure prominently in the chase for the top $8,126 purse in the event serving as the second leg a nine-stage circuit and backed by MJ Carr Golf Management, Inc., Srixon, Callaway, Unilab, Titleist, Sharp, Custom Clubmakers, Mizuno,PinoyGolfer.com, Inquirer Golf, A Round of Golf, Studio 23, Balls, and Dynamic Sports.

Joining Pagunsan in the hunt for the title are Jay Bayron, Ferdie Aunzo, Artemio Murakami, Tony Lascuna, Mars Pucay, Rufino Bayron, Elmer Salvador, Cassius Casas, Richard Sinfuego, Orlan Sumcad, Jhonnel Ababa, Mhark Fernando, Anthony Fernando and Marvin Dumandan.

Teener Miguel Tabuena, chasing a breakthrough win on his rookie year in the pros, also hopes to dish out top form and contend for the crown on a course where he last played as an amateur during the Montecillo Cup last March.

Also in the fold are Singapore’s Ang Chin Ling, Brunei’s Wira Ak, Indonesian Johannes Dermawan and Dutch Guido Van der Valk, who finished runner-up to Salvador in the 2009 Philippine Open, also at Mt. Malarayat.

Meanwhile, a number of established and new events has been lined up for the ASEAN Golf Tour this year, giving the region’s top pros the opportunity to play for $685,000 total prize fund, which is over $100,000 more than last year, and compete in nine tournaments.

There is a huge incentive for ASEAN pros to succeed on the Tour with the top 10 players from the money list earning playing privileges on OneAsia and the leading seven gaining spots in the $6 million Barclays Singapore Open in November.