CANLUBANG fields a formidable quartet in an attempt to solidify its status as the country’s undisputed power in team play in the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines Interclub Championship starting today at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.
Carrying the banner of Canlubang in Division 1 are Miguel Tabuena, Jobim Carlos, Rupert Zaragosa and Gio Gandionco -- a solid combination installed as the team to beat in the four-to-play, three-to-count tourney kicking off a busy International Container Terminal Services, Inc. jungolf summer circuit.
Some 170 players have signed up for the Interclub that features team and individual participants from Aguinaldo, Alabang, Philippine Navy, Valley, Orchard, Forest Hills, Riviera, The Country Club, Summit Point, Manila Southwoods, Malarayat, Fernando Airbase, Mactan and Tat Filipinas.
Twenty Korean juniors are providing the foreign challenge to the tournament also backed by Philippine Airlines, McDonald’s, Smart, Golf Depot, Dynamic Sports and Leisure Corp. and Pioneer Insurance.
The ICSTI summer circuit recently received a tremendous boost with the entry of the Pancake House Group, Teriyaki Boy, Sizzilin Pepper as additional major backers.
Luigi Tabuena, president of the JGFP, sees the entry of the corporate giants as a welcome development that will help them pursue the vision of a truly nationwide development program already in motion with the national junior golf rankings.
The main backers of the program, Ricky Razon of ICTSI, Jimmy Bautista of Philippine Airlines, Martin Lorenzo of Pancake Group and Ogie Manalo of the Federation of Philippine Golf Clubs, Inc. have been invited to grace the opening ceremonies.
While the main focus is the battle for the three division titles, there is also much excitement in the individual battles in all age-groups, where the cream of the present crop of junior players are entered, not to mention the foreign challengers.
Division I features players in Classes A and B, Division 2 is for C and D and Division 3 is for E and F. There will be trophies up for grabs in all six individual classes from A to F for the boys and girls categories.
The Canlubang boys are hard-pressed to emulate the unchallenged romp of their home club in the annual PAL Interclub wars. Carlos and Zaragosa were part of the team that captured for Canlubang its fifth straight crown and 17th overall.
Some environmentalists have savaged golf courses for their excessive water consumption, and the establishment of new courses in neighbouring countries such as Vietnam has also caused angst because villagers have been displaced by hectares of green sward needed for the chase of the little white ball.
The water issue is particularly sensitive in Siem Reap, with some claiming increased water consumption might cause Angkor monuments to tumble.
Consequently, the operators of the three golf courses in town have banded together to steer a path toward “social responsibility”.
Managers of the local courses – Sofitel Phokeethra Country Club, Angkor Golf Resort and the Siem Reap Lake Golf Resort – attended a Sustainability Golf Management seminar organised by the Ministry of Tourism in conjunction with Siem Reap province on March 15 at the Siem Reap City Hall.
The seminar was chaired by Dr Mok Mareth, senior minister of tourism, supported by Sou Phirin, Governor of Siem Reap province, and attended by Hor Sarun, Undersecretary of State.
The main thrust of the seminar was a lecture given by the president and CEO of the TAT Filipinas Golf Club, Edna Selloriquez Paña. (photos)
The lecture gave insights into how to successfully manage, implement and conserve water use, and touched upon finding the right balance of chemical and fertiliser usage, and employee sustainability.
Adam Robertson, the manager of the Angkor Golf Resort, said, “Water was the topic of much discussion. Our primary concern is to manage it in a more responsible manner, and several measures have been taken.”
Robertson also pointed out that when the Angkor Golf Resort opened, it signed on to the National Audubon Society’s Golf Course Sanctuary programme for the protection of the local flora and fauna. Turtles liberated from local markets are brought to the golf course and released in the water pools, and bird life is also attracted to the course.
The top finishers display their trophies after the fifth leg of the
ICTSI Jungolf Circuit at the Tat Filipinas Golf Club course in San
Pedro, Laguna.
MANILA, Philippines - Wolen Superal, Gabriel Manotoc, Luigi Guerrero and Angela de Villa found their winning forms in time to chalk up their first victories as the school season series of the ICTSI Jungolf Circuit came to a close recently at the Tat Filipinas Golf Club course in San Pedro, Laguna.
Superal ended a string of runner-up finishes when the former Junior World age-group champion scored a 74 for a three-shot win over Jobim Carlos in boys Class A.
Like Superal, Manotoc (boys Class C), Guerrero (boys Class B) and De Villa (girls Class A) also won for the first time in the tourney, which capped a five-leg swing of private clubs by members of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines.
Joining ICTSI as sponsors of the circuit are Philippine Airlines, McDonald’s, Smart, Golf Depot and Pioneer Insurance.
Manotoc, son of sportsman Tommy, won by five with a 78, Guerrero tallied an 81 then nipped Sean Avellan in a countback and De Villa posted an impressive victory with a 78.
Princess Arevalo completed a girls Class B sweep with a solid 71. Completing the winners circle were Kristoffer Arevalo in boys Class D with an 81, Mia Legaspi in girls Class C with a 79, Harmie Constantino with a 92 in girls Class D and US-bound Regine de Guzman with a 75 in the special division.
Over at the Riviera Sports Club, Bernice Olivares-Ilas (girls Class E) and Jed Dy (boys Class F) also matched the five-leg sweep of Superal but Ace Eagle Superal failed a similar bid by Annika Tanoue after an 89.
Olivares-Ilas carded a 60 and won by nine strokes while Dy’s 65 was enough for a 10-shot win. Superal had an 89 to beat Fiona de Jesus by one and Tanoue by three.
The junior golfers are now busy preparing for the summer circuit, which starts with the Interclub championships at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas.
Brent Sumampong of the ICTSI golf team and three other Filipino amateurs are all set to compete in the 2010 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final beginning Wednesday at the Faldo course of the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China.
The three-day tournament is the project of golf great Nick Faldo for his charity, the Faldo Trust for Tomorrow’s Champions (Asia) Limited, which has support of The R&A and endorsement of Asian Tour and Asia Pacific Golf Confederation.
Sumampong, who topped the boys’ 21-and-under division in the inaugural Faldo Series Philippine Championship in Tat Filipinas, will tee off in the company of Yao Xue-feng of China and Soe Moe Win of Myanmar.
“I’m pretty excited to go to China. It will be a big tournament outside of the country. I hope to relax and enjoy and not have that overwhelming feeling that might add pressure to me," said Sumampong before he left for Shenzhen.
Also seeing action are Jobim Carlos (boys’ 18-and-under), Bino dela Paz (boys’ 16-and-under) and petite lady Irina Gabasa (girls’ division).
Carlos starts with Joon Lee of South Korea and Nacha Patchana of Thailand while Dela Paz is in the flight of Joshua Ho of Singapore and Tawit Polthai of Thailand. Gabasa, RP’s lone entrant in the distaff side, is bunched with Shi Yu-ting of China and Lee Ji-woo of South Korea.
Among the foreign contenders are England’s Jonathan Bell, the 19-yeard-old who won the Faldo Series European Grand Final played in the Olympic city of Rio de Janeiro back in October, Gavin Green, the 2009 Malaysian Closed Amateur champion, and Rashid Khan from India, the 2008 and 2009 Faldo Series Asia champion.
The fourth Faldo Series Asia Grand final will be played under strict tournament conditions over three rounds on the Faldo Course. Boys and girls will play from different tees with the Faldo Series Asia challenge trophy to be presented by Faldo himself to the player with the lowest gross score, boy or girl.
Players will also be receiving expert advice and support from Faldo himself as well as other guest speakers during the tournament week. Tuesday’s player seminar focused on working with sponsors and creating a personal brand image, on and off the course.
The five age-category winners – three boys and two girls – will be invited by Faldo to compete in the 2010 Faldo Series European Grand Final to be staged over at the Faldo Course at the Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland on September 21-23.
The overall Asian champion, boy and girl, will also be invited to play in a flagship event on the Asian Tour and the Ladies European Tour, respectively.
Likewise, the Faldo Series Asia will be initiating a number of grassroots activities around the Grand Final as part of its bid to create simultaneous access to the sport for a wider and younger audience.
This includes support of the Mission Hills Junior Tour, which has been launched to provide opportunities to junior golfers of all means, aged nine and upwards, and will act as an official feeder to Faldo Series Asia tournaments in China, including the Grand Final for its overall boys and girls champions.
MANILA, Philippines - It wasn’t an easy win this time but Miguel Tabuena kept his unbeaten streak just the same to top Class A and lead the top point earners in the opening leg of the school season series of the ICTSI Jungolf Circuit.
Tabuena scored a 76 like last week for a 152 total, beating Andres Saldaña, who ralllied with 74 after an opening 81, by three strokes at the rolling Tat Filipinas course in San Pedro, Laguna to share Class A honors with Marvi Monsalve.
Monsalve, scoring an 83-162, finished five strokes ahead of Andie Unson and Maan Legaspi.
Keanu Jahns (84-164) and Princess Superal (84-164) were the winners in Class B, Rupert Zaragosa (78-157) and Ki Min Gi (84-169) won in Class C, Kristoffer Arevalo (81-162) and Sun Choi (82-167) took the titles in Class D while Alexis Nallos (77-143) was the runaway winner in the special division for 18 -21 years old.
At the Riviera executive course, Ateneo’s Carl Corpus and Bernice Olivarez-Ilas won in Class E while Jed Dy (58-118) and Arnie Taguines (76-159) claimed the Class F titles.
All winners automatically become the leaders in the National Junior Golf Ranking System that provides points to tournaments conducted by the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines.
ICTSI is the chief backer of the revitalized junior golf circuit with Philippine Airlines, McDonald’s, Smart, Golf Depot, Pioneer Insurance and Unilever.
This week’s leg will be played at Valley executive course and Riviera.
MANILA, Philippines--The quest for points for the national junior ranking system begins Sunday with the first of a series of school season weekend tournaments of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines at the Tat Filipinas course in San Pedro, Laguna, and the Riviera executive course in Silang, Cavite.
Competitions for Classes A (15 to 17 years), B (13 to 14), C (11 to 12) and D (9 to 10) and the special division (18 to 21) will be played at Tat Filipinas and the E (7 to 8) and F (6 and under) at Riviera in the first official event where ranking points are available.
Jungolf will use the ranking system as basis for the selection of official entries and representatives to various national and international junior golf tournaments and for awards, recognition and grants.
ICTSI is the chief backer of the revitalized circuit with Philippine Airlines, McDonald’s, Smart, Golf Depot and Pioneer Insurance also pledging their support.
Next week’s leg will also be played at Tat Filipinas and Riviera.
Jungolf chair Gerry Handog, president Luigi Tabuena and tournament committee head Col. Norman Legaspi bared a year-round lineup of activities that will be capped by a major international event in honor of its late founder Amalia Montecillo in November.
A new direction for the country’s junior players is in motion as the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines (JGFP) announced a busy tournament season for 2010 and the long-awaited launching of a national ranking system.
Getting the much-needed sponsorship of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc., the JGFP under the new leadership of its chairman, Gerry Handog, and its president, Luigi Tabuena, bared a full slate of weekly tournaments starting on January 24 and 31 at TAT Filipinas and Riviera.
Succeeding weekly tournaments will be held on various golf courses throughout the country including stages in the Visayas and Northern Luzon.
“This is the start of a new beginning for Philippine junior golf,” said Tabuena, who stressed the need for a year-round training and competition schedule in order to enhance the competitive skills of the country’s jungolfers.
Participation in international tournaments in Asia, Europe and the United States will be dangled as incentives although the JGFP maintains that strict qualifying procedures shall be implemented starting this year.
One of the major changes for this year is the introduction of the national ranking system that will determine the best junior golfers in each age group. Points will also be awarded to all participants of the JGFP tournaments and sanctioned events. More importantly, the ranking system will be used to determine the representatives to different international junior golf events.
The special division for 18-21 year olds is also being revived to ensure the continuity of the program and prepare them for the amateur ranks.
“All these new schemes are envisioned to increase interest in junior golf,” said Handog.
The JGFP is also in the process of building its support base from the corporate sector and so far, the effort has been fruitful with companies like McDonald, Smart, Coca Cola, Golf Depot, Philippine Airlines and Pioneer Insurance already pledging to come in.
