MANILA, Philippines - The country’s ace shotmakers and rising stars along with the leading ladies and mid-am players brace for another three-day showdown of shotmaking and putting skills as they slug it out for top honors in the Northern Luzon Regional Golf Championship on Oct. 27-29 at the Beverly Place Golf Club in Pampanga.
National champion Rupert Zaragosa banners the Elite Am-Men’s division that also includes regular campaigners Aidric Chan, Jolo Magcalayo, Pierre Ticzon and Aniceto Mandanas with Orchard’s Joaquin Gomez, Alabang Country Club’s Seung Hyeon Back, Mimosa’s Oh Sang Jin and Richnell Albano of the host club also joining the title hunt in the premier side of the event held as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour.
Harmie Constantino is also back for another shot at the girls crown in the Open category with the 15-year-old find oozing with confidence after helping the Philippine team romp off with the World Junior Girls crown in Canada last month.
However, Yuka Saso, who won the individual crown at World Junior, won’t be around as she is slated to play in the Asian Juniors in South Korea also this week.
Still, the depth of the competing field remains as talent-laden as ever with Sofia Legaspi, the third member of the victorious Phl squad, also in the fold along with Ashia Nocum, Kristine Torralba, Nicole Abelar, Jona Magcalayo and Tomi Arejola.
Koreans Yang Ju Younh and Shin Seo Yun are also joining the title chase in the Slite Am-Women’s, ensuring a fierce showdown in the event sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and hosted by Beverly Place.
Also on tap are the men’s division, including Group I for players with handicap of 5-12 and Group II for those with handicap 13-and-above; and the junior division for boys and girls.
Headlining the men’s Group I cast are Edgardo Pagulayan, Ronald Busto, Constantino Joson and Martin Salazar of Isabela Golf Club, Navy’s Ricardo Loyola, Mimosa’s Jose Antonio Narciso, Josh Abad, Efren Leonardo of Luisita and Beverly Place’s Florante Bambao.
Leandro Bagtas, Francis Lanuza and Sean Ramos are tipped to fight it out for the juniors crown of the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.
Registration is ongoing with deadline set tomorrow. For details, call NGAP office at (632) 517-9778 or (632) 3428719 or Beverly Place Golf Club at (045) 436-1860 or email ngapgolf@rocketmail.com.