Golfers open bid in Queen Sirikit Cup

MANILA, Philippines - Chihiro Ikeda and Dottie Ardina hope to provide the experience and poise as they lead the Philippines against a crack field clashing for top honors in the 33nd Queen Sirikit Cup which got under way Wednesday at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi, India.

Ikeda, the reigning SEA Games individual gold medalist and winner of the recent Southern Ladies Open, is making her fourth straight appearance in the annual event also known as the Asia-Pacific Golf Team Championship.

Ardina is back with the national squad, hopeful of a solid showing after fine-tuning her swing while former Phl Ladies Open winner Jayvie Agojo will be the Phl’s third player in the three-to-play, two-to-count format event featuring the leading teams in the Asia-Pacific region.

Lovelynn Guioguio, who ruled the WWW-DHL National Championship in Canlubang recently, is the team’s alternate.

The Filipina golfers, whose stint is sanctioned by WGAP (Women’s Golf Association of the Phils) and sponsored by ICTSI, had two practice rounds over the weekend, raring to make up for the team’s eighth place finish in New Zealand last year.

“This is probably one of the strongest teams we are fielding in this event and I am confident of their good showing,” said national team coach Bong Lopez.

South Korea, which swept the team and individual honors last year, Australia, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and host India have been tipped as the early favorites to vie for this year’s crown.

“The course is difficult with tight, hard fairways. If you miss the fairway, it’s an automatic lost ball since the shrubs lining up the fairway are so thick,” said Lopez, also the man at the helm of the ICTSI golf program. “They need to hit the fairways to score well although in some holes they would just need irons or rescue clubs to put the ball in position.”

He added that the putting surface is very undulating and fast and stressed the need for his wards to keep the ball in the proper side to set up birdie chances.

The Phl is pitted against Korea and China in the first round with Ikeda matching up with Korean national champion Ji Hee Kim at 7:30, Ardina with In Gee Chun and Xi Yu at 7:40 a.m. and Agojo with Hyo Koo Kim, the defending individual champion, and Yan Jing at 7:50 a.m.