Junior World qualifying fires off at Southwoods

MANILA, Philippines - Who goes to San Diego, California to represent the country in the Junior World golf championships will be known this week as 143 kids clash for the 17 available slots in the local qualifier of the world’s biggest jungolf tournament starting today at the Legends course of the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club in Carmona, Cavite.

The event drew 52 entries in Class A, 31 in Class B, 36 in Class C and 24 in Class D who will play over 72 holes bidding for inclusion in the delegation that will be sent by the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines (JGFP) to the annual Junior World this coming July in eight different golf courses in San Diego.

And with at least 30 more joining a separate qualifying for the Class E and Class F divisions next week, the JGFP announced that this year’s batch will be the biggest number of hopefuls in recent memory.The third leg of the summer circuit  backed chiefly by ICTSI is also supported by Pancake House, Teriyaki Boy, Sizzlin’ Pepper, PAL, Duty Free Philippines, McDonald’s, Golf Depot, Pioneer Insurance, PacSports, Julies Bakeshop and Microtel.

JGFP president Luigi Tabuena made special mention to the steadily rising numbers in participation in the summer circuit, saying that only last week, the Jungolf Interclub at Eagle Ridge attracted another record roster of 160 players that could have been bigger if not for an accompanying amateur event which some jungolfers opted to join.

“The level of enthusiasm to compete is very high and we’re very surprised by the big numbers in terms of attendance,” said Tabuena.

Most of the standouts of the jungolf ranks are in the roster as they shoot for the 12 free tickets to Los Angeles provided by Philippine Airlines.

A special focus is on the battle for the boys Class A slots among the Cebuano kids and the NCR bets.

Gio Gandionco, who steered the country to a big finish in the Montecillo Cup at the Orchard, and his teammate LJ Go will fight it out with familiar rivals like JP de Claro, Miggy Yee, AR Ramos, Jama Reyes and Justin Quiban.

Princess Superal is out for a big duel with Andie Unson and Daniella Uy in girls Class A while standouts Kristoffer Arevalo, Mia Legaspi, Bianca Pagdanganan, Sophia Blanco and Carl Corpus hope to live up to their roles as division favorites.

The jungolfers need all the tee-to-green consistency at the Southwoods Legends especially since the course was just used for the club’s member-guest event with the speed of the greens reaching as high as 13 on the stimpmeter.