Mimosa ‘unfit,’ Riviera new venue of RP Open

Mimosa’s loss is Riviera’s gain.

For the first time in its storied staging, the Philippine Open golf championship will be moved out of its original venue to another site after the Clark Development Corp., which runs the Mimosa golf complex, obstinately refused to close the composite Mountainview course and have it refurbished in time for the big event.

That paved the way for the "takeover" of Riviera, which is no stranger to hosting events of such magnitude, having staged — with resounding success – the 2000 edition of the fabled event at the hazard-laden Langer layout won by Gerald Rosales.

NGAP (National Golf Association of the Philippines) president Rod Feliciano made it official yesterday after he got a call from CDC head Emmanuel Angeles, who said that there’s no way for them to close the course and that they’re no longer interested in hosting the DHL-Philippine Open after a series of negative remarks thrown at Mimosa by NGAP officials.

"He said he was not pleased with what he read in the papers, declaring Mimosa is unfit to host the Open," said Feliciano. "Apparently, he was not briefed on what’s going on in Mimosa when he was out of the country."

Feliciano, also the president of the sponsoring DHL Express, actually told CDC executive vice president Chichos Luciano last Monday — in a sort of an ultimatum – that the NGAP will need to close the composite layout Tuesday to effect changes and ensure the composite courses — the other being Acacia – will reach their championship form when the event is held Feb. 26-29.

"But obviously, the CDC head was not informed of our requirements," said Feliciano. "I reminded him that he was the one who approached me to bring the Open to Mimosa and even assured me of 100 percent full support. He probably doesn’t understand what full support means."

"We cannot close the course since we have corporate members (playing)," Feliciano quoted Angeles as saying in justifying the CDC’s refusal to turn over the management of the course to the NGAP.

The CDC chief must have been referring to the Korean guests, whom they can’t just shoo away because of the revenues they give to the club. There are about 400 to 600 Koreans who play daily on Acacia, Lakeview and Mountainview courses.

What infuriated the NGAP hierarchy was CDC’s failure to immediately inform the RP Open organizing committee, chaired by Benny Gopez, that it cannot comply with the stringent requirements set by the NGAP.

"They wasted our time," said Feliciano.

In its official statement, the CDC said it "decided not to host the Open because Mimosa is not ready to comply with the NGAP requirements due to its limited resources," a decision the CDC could’ve announced much earlier.

Despite the sudden change in venue, the upcoming DHL-RP Open is assured of a grand staging.

"Riviera’s Langer course is more than ready to host the Open (again). A little improvement here and there and we will have a course truly championship in form and character," said Riviera president Commodore Danny Pizarro.

The par-71 layout is challenging enough with tight fairways, deep ravines and undulating greens. But if the winds come into play, it would be tougher and too demanding for the men of the tour.

Officials of both the NGAP and Riviera formalized the deal last night with a contract-signing at The Fort with a media tournament slated Friday to re-launch the 88th staging of the $150,000 event.

With the Open out of Mimosa, which experts believe is unfit to host even small-time tournaments, and the right venue tapped, the country’s premier golf championship, presented by San Miguel Corp., is assured of a successful staging with some of the best players in the region, led by defending champion Rick Gibson of Canada, battling it out with the likes of Frankie Miñoza, Cassius Casas and Rosales as well as the other big guns of the local tour.

Spicing up the four-day championship is the presence of two of the country’s newly-turned lady pros – Heidi Chua and Ria Quiazon – who will hack it out with the big boys over a super-daunting course expected to bring out the best — or worst — in them.