Castro nails last SEAG golf slot

MANILA, Philippines – Luis Castro, who captured the individual crown and powered the Philippines to the team championship in the Indonesian Amateur Open last month, clinched the fourth and last berth in the national men's team vying in the Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting later this year.

Castro tied for seventh in the recent grueling 144-hole NGAP (National Golf Association of the Philippines) qualifier topped by Aidric Chan, Carl Corpus and Sean Ramos, who claimed the first three seats in the Philippine squad gearing up for the biennial meet set December 4-8 at the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac.

But Castro, eager to represent the country against the best in the region, worked on his game and dished out that solid performance in Indonesia, which drew some of those competing in the Manila SEAG.

“There has been major international success from both the men’s and women’s team in recent months,” said national team coach Miko Alejandro, referring to Chan’s record win in Junior World, Bianca Pagdanganan’s equally outstanding feat in the LPGA Q-School Stage 1, which she topped, and Castro’s victory.

“The beauty of our team is that all our players are world class — they not only can compete at the highest level but they also represent the Philippines with highest standard everywhere they compete around the world,” added Alejandro.

He picked Thailand and Singapore as the teams to watch in the SEAG with Malaysia and Hong Kong also expected to pose stiff challenge.

“We have been playing most events with these countries in the region the last four months so and both coaches and players are well aware of our competition and what the team needs to do for success,” said Alejandro.

But with the so-called “home-court” edge and the all-out support from all sectors, Alejandro believes the Filipinos are in for a big finish in the coming regional competition.

“All our players are very familiar with the course that has hosted our national championships the past couple of years so they will be at ease,” he added. “We also believe that we can truly maximize our ‘home-court’ advantage with support from the golfing community especially because the format is match play and momentum and energy are paramount. The coaching staff and Luisita will also be doing their homework, studying and preparing the greens for our guys.”

Still, Alejandro stressed the need for the Filipinos to toughen up with the squad set to compete in various top-level tournaments leading to the SEA Games, including the Asian Amateur Championship in China later this month, the Thailand Amateur in October, and the Nomura Cup and Hong Kong Amateur in November.

Meanwhile, Alejandro said they will name the complete women’s roster next week with Pagdanganan, a former Philippine Ladies Amateur champion and bronze medalist in last year’s Asian Games, and Lois Kaye Go, member of the Asiad gold medal squad, spearheading the team.