In-form Mondilla, fired-up Pagunsan banner PGTA cast

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Golf Tour Asia kicks off its third season tomorrow with newly crowned Solaire Philippine Open champion and 2018 PGTA Order of Merit winner Clyde Mondilla bracing for a fierce battle with an elite international cast at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac.

Aussie David Gleeson wore down Filipino Erwin Arcillas on the third playoff hole to snatch the crown last year with the same finish expected on Thursday given the depth of the competing field with the wind and the heat expected to add up to the challenge at the tight layout.

But focus will also be on those seeking redemption from their Phl Open debacle, including Asia’s former No. 1 and recent PGT Asia Riviera leg champion Juvic Pagunsan, four-time PGT Asia leg winner Jhonnel Ababa, veteran Elmer Salvador, multi-titled Tony Lascuña, PGT Asia leg titlist Joenard Rates and Gleeson, who all missed the cut in the country’s premier championship last week, which closed out the second season of the region’s newest circuit put up by ICTSI.

The 116-player cast also features a horde of talented foreign bidders, including Thais Tawan Phongpun and Ratchapol Jantavara, Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang and Gregory Foo, Swede Sebastian Hansson, Rory Hie of Indonesia, Scot Ryan Hood, Hwang Myung Chal of Japan, Grant Jackson of England, Spain’s Marcos Pastor and Americans Lexus Keoninh, Charles Lee and Micah Shin, among others.

Phongpun and Jantavara are coming into the 72-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. oozing with confidence after sharing top honors in the PGT Asia Qualifying Tournament last Friday, also held at the Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed course.

But the locals are also ready to take on the best from the foreign contingent with last year’s PGT OOM winner Jobim Carlos raring to atone for his abbreviated stint in the Phl Open where he withdrew after the first round due to injury.

Mondilla bucked the odds at the tough The Country Club layout and bested a talent-laden field to become the 18th Filipino and third from Del Monte to win Asia’s oldest National Open.

Meanwhile, Mondilla and a select group of pros test the challenging hazard-laden layout in today’s pro-am where they will be paired with guests and officials of the event’s chief backers, including ICTSI, PLDT Enterprise, Meralco, BDO and PGT Asia official apparel Pin High.