Southwoods all geared up for PAL title defense

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippine Airlines (PAL) Ladies Interclub championship gets going today with Manila Southwoods Masters and Del Monte heading the field at the Sta. Barbara Golf and Country Club in Iloilo.

The Carmona-based squad ran away with the crown in last year’s revival of the event and is eyeing a repeat on an eight-player crew led by teener and World Junior Championship veteran Abby Arevalo.

Del Monte, which has vowed to go all-out to foil Southwoods, will be playing with only six players owing to an earlier submitted team average of 2.025, forcing it to drop ICTSI teammates Lovelyn Guioguio and Sarah Ababa from its original roster to avoid the penalty of two-to-count format.

Southwoods, for its part, will have four players seeing action every day.

Del Monte agreed to show up with just six players to be able to field in four with the top three to count.

“Although I’m not happy with the development, this will serve as a

challenge to our team. We are very hopeful we can pull through,” Del

Monte team captain Maribel San Miguel said after the second team captains’ meeting yesterday morning.

Southwoods also gave up a huge name in Jayvie Agojo, the reigning Santi Cup individual champion, and will instead be pinning its hopes on a very young crew led by Arevalo, who won an event in the United States shortly after the Junior World.

Annika Cedo, a long-hitting 13-year-old daughter of swing guru Jun Cedo, and Mia Legaspi also make the Interclub debuts for Southwoods.