Que, Juvic to lead RP charge

LIPA, Batangas – Angelo Que tunes up for his keenly awaited stint in the British Open as he leads the crack international field vying for top honors in the $50,000 ICTSI Mt. Malarayat Championship firing off at the Mt. Malarayat Golf Club today.

Boosted by his runner-up finish in last week’s Thailand PGA, Juvic Pagunsan is also expected to dish out fine form together with Mars Pucay, out to duplicate his three-stroke victory over Rey Pagunsan here in the inaugurals of the fledgling tour last year.

For Que, the reigning Philippine Open champion, the event serves as his last big tournament where he hopes to come up with a morale-boosting performance before he slugs it out with the world’s best in the third major on July 17-20 at Royal Birkdale in Lancashire, England.

With the absence of a local pro circuit, a lot of the homegrown talents are hoping to find some sort of a career boost in this event serving as the third stop of the Mercedes-Benz Tour exclusive to pros in the Asean region.

But they will have to contend with the Thais especially Wisut Artjanawat who ruled the Mercedes-Benz Masters Philippines at Tagaytay Midlands in thrilling fashion where he outlasted the likes of Que and Pucay for the coveted title.

The 26-year-old Wisut kept his hot form to post a Top 20 finish last week in the Thai PGA Championship of the Asian Tour, which Pagunsan nearly won if not for a final-day explosion by Korean Mo Joong-kyung.

The superbly conditioned Lobo and Malipunyo nines of the 27-hole Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club are expected to yield a torrent of low scores with the way the big names of the tourney have played in previous stints.

“The goal is really to go low. We’ve seen winners going 17 to 20 under in recent events, so this one’s not going to be any different I believe,” said Que, adding that even locals who haven’t had much exposure overseas can end up winning the tourney.

“The course couldn’t be in better shape and unless the winds blow hard enough, we’ll have a lot of very good scores this week.”

Tournament sponsors are Mercedes-Benz, Callaway, Crest Link, Gatorade, Motorola.

Meanwhile, Orlan Sumcad and the Motorola team of Kenny Khoo, Eddie Chen and Martin Leyeza netted a 56 to top yesterday’s pro-am side-event.