RP golfers game: Play safe in first 2 rounds, then attack

BUSAN, South Korea – The sentiment among the Filipino golfers, one of strong bets for the gold for Team Philippines, is to play a conservative game the first two days and hopefully emerge among the frontrunner in the crucial weekend rounds at the Asiad Country Club in Gijang-gun in Busan.

Competition in golf begins today with the RP bets facing a daunting task of keeping a medal tradition in the discipline since its inception in 1986 in Seoul.

The men’s team of Angelo Que, Marlon Dizon, Jerome Delariarte and Juvic Pagunsan will tee off at 9 a.m. while the ladies squad of Heidi Chua, Carmelette Villaroman and Ria Denise Quiazon will start their campaign at 10:30 a.m.

Confined to shooting targets and keeping their form on driving range in the first two days of their stay here with most of the Busan courses closed to non-members, the RP team finally played and paced the course which one member described as approximating a "big John Hay" with its exacting hazards and fair weather.

Taking advantage of the free practice days, the Filipinos played three rounds then limited themselves to a nine-hole grind yesterday, fine-tuning their driving and putting to preserve their strength for the battle ahead.

"Baka mapagod," said Dizon, who had a string of amateur victories back home but best remembered for his final round charge that helped win the SEA Games gold four years ago in Brunei.

"We feel that we must play conservative the first two days, go for routine pars and a better placing and see what happens in the last two rounds," said Dizon.

The pro-bound Que, a member of the team that won the silver in the Bangkok Games four years ago, also echoed the kind of strategy needed to make the team competitive in the stretch. But he doesn’t rule out some swashbuckling rounds if the opportunity arises.

"We have to be precise and accurate," said Que, the two-time national champion who is to play in the World Amateur late this year.

The team strategy for the all-important gold is borne out of the fact that the character of the course itself varies in each side.

"The front nine is really tight and there are some stretches like the first and second holes and the sixth, seventh, eighth where you really have to be precise because of tight fairways, hazards and out-of-bounds," said Dizon.

Chief rivals remain the Japanese, the Koreans and the Taiwanese but the Filipinos are keeping an eye on Thailand’s Prom Meesawat who won in Junior World in San Diego and in the Thai Amateur with a winning 22-under-par card.

It will be as much a test for the women’s team since they will face strong teams from host Korea and Japan but team skipper Alice Andrada said her charges are ready to do battle.

They will be led by Chua, the reigning national champion, who made a back-breaking grind of amateur and pro circuits in the United States in her buildup for the Asiad.

"I went through a life on the road, like aspiring pros in the US, and the experience of playing in an international field in a foreign land really helps me physically and psychologically for this Games," said Chua.