THE 2016 Philippine Ladies Open Golf Championship tees off today with Cebu’s bet Lois Kaye Go duking it out with formidable lady golfers at the Tagaytay Midlands Golf Course.
Go, a junior star golfer of Cebu Country Club (CCC), will be on the same flight with the former US Girls’ Juniors champion Princess Superal, Thai golfer Soisuwan Onkanok and local ace Claire Amelia Legaspi. The group will be the second to tee off at 7:40 a.m.
The 16-year-old Go will be facing 65 other starters, including those from Thailand, Malaysia Korea, Japan and Australia.
Go looks to ride on the momentum of her impressive performance in the 2015 ICTSI –JGFP Visayas Inter-School Golf Championship at CCC layouts in Banilad on Dec. 29 last year.
Today’s event, which is a 54-hole championship, is organized by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines.
The reigning national champion, Harmie Constantino, on the other hand, is the first group to start at 7:30 a.m. and will face off with Pauline del Rosario, Aisha Nocum and Kellie Kan of Malaysia.
The first two groups are hoping to capitalize on their early start although they remain wary of the wind condition, which is expected to get tougher from mid-morning all the way to the finish.
Superal and Constantino are coming out as the early favorites in this tournament given their recent victories. Superal racked up four victories abroad toward the end of 2015 and had a solid start this year with a runaway win in Hong Kong. Constantino is not to be outdone as she is coming off an emphatic victory in the Philippine Amateur Championship at the Eagle Ridge last week.
The Thai players include Kan Bunnabodee and Atthaya Thitikul who are out to extend their domination after compatriots Supamas Sangchan reigned in 2013 to 2014 at Mt. Malarayat and Forest Hills and Pimnipa Panthong won at Wack Wack.
The Koreans will be led by Yang Ju Young, Kim Hee Sun, Sun Ok Park and Soon Hak Jung, Aussie Prescilla Keogh, Ping Carmichael of Hong Kong, Cebu-based Japanese Riko Nagai and siblings Norshahira, Noraishah Che Omar and Kellie Kan of Malaysia all primed up for the golf tournament.
Other top-tier players in the fold are Bernice Ilas, Mikha Fortuna, Kayla Nocum, Felicia Medalla, Sam Martirez, Sofia Chabon and reigning Thailand Junior champion Yuka Saso.