Korean lass heads Philippines Am title chase

MANILA, Philippines - Hwang Min Jeong, a young Korean ace who won a pro event last year, banners the ladies cast in the Philippine Amateur (Stroke Play) Open Golf Championship which gets going tomorrow at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club’s Aoki course in Gen. Trias, Cavite.

Hwang, 14, humbled the cream of the country’s pro crop, including fellow amateur and former US Girls’ Junior champion Princess Superal, to win the Mt. Malarayat leg of the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour last year.

That makes the ninth grader at Holy Infant School in Muntinlupa the player to watch in the 72-hole championship serving as the kickoff leg of this year’s PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour and sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investment Corp.

But she will be up against an equally talent-laden field, including veteran Nur Durriyah Damian and fellow Malaysian Genevieve Ling I-Rynn along with Koreans Koh Euna and Jang Yoon Ji from Riviera and Lee Eun Kyung from Valley Golf.

Also in the fold are Regina de Guzman and Cassy Isagawa, who teamed up to rule last week’s NGAP National Doubles Amateur, national team mainstay Harmie Constantino, Weifang Gao, Junia Gabasa, LK Go, Kristine Torralba, Laja Barro, Jona Magcalayo, Riko Nagai, and Koreans Jeong Su Ji and Jeon Hye Rim.

Pro-bound Jobim Carlos and national junior champion Rupert Zaragosa headline the men’s field that includes a slew of foreign aces, led by Tom Ferguson of the US, Koreans Sim Seung Jae, Kim Yong Uk, Ko Myeong Hun, Jun Jhon, Lee Geon, Lim Soo Min, Yang Ju Young and Kang Dong Guk, Singaporeans Joshua Shou and Jeryl Tan, Japanese Toshinori Iwasaki, Christian Boshoff, Lee Ji Hyeon and Conor Earl Morley.

Other Filipinos tipped to contend for the crown in the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and hosted by Eagle Ridge GCC are Jelbert Gamolo, Carlo Gatmaytan, Jama Reyes, Wei Wei Gao, Weiyu Gao, Migs Guerrero, Rocky Brobio, Bong Brobio, Jolo Magcalayo, GH Katigbak, Aidric Chan, Ira Alido Ivan Monsalve, Ryan Monsalve and Inigo Raymundo.