Ardina opens Queen Sirikit title defense

MANILA, Philippines - Dottie Ardina hopes to come out strong in the face of an expected charge by the region’s top guns, headed by world No. 1 Lydia Ko, as she begins her title-retention drive in the Queen Sirikit Cup today at the Tanah Merah Country Club’s Garden Course in Singapore.

The 18-year-old Filipina shotmaker will be the marked player in the fold, becoming the top draw for beating a crack field to claim the individual crown over Korean aces Hyo Joo Kim and Ji Hee Kim in a down-to-the-wire finish in India last year.

She, however, faces a tougher outing this week with Ko out to foil her back-to-back title bid and snap New Zealand’s 13-year drought in team competition of the annual event also known as the Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship.

But Ardina is all primed up for the 54-hole event, coming in with three victories in the last six weeks, including the Philippine Open Match Play Championship two weeks ago. With Jayvie Agojo and Lovelynn Guioguio also in top form, the ICTSI-backed squad also hopes to contend for the coveted team championship which it nearly clinched last year.

With wide fairways and huge greens, a three-day shootout is expected among the region’s leading players from the 13-nation field, including the 14-time champion Koreans, the Kiwis, the Australians, the Japanese, the Thais, the Malaysians and the hosts.

“Tanah Merah is wider and much longer, so it is important that they put their drive on the fairway to set up good approach shots,” said ICTSI team coach Bong Lopez, after the team sampled the par-72 layout Monday.

“We had a good practice round. The fairways are wide, so driving will be the easy part. The greens are very large but undulating, so premium will be on where to place the approach shots,” added Lopez.

For Ardina, putting will be the key.

“The course condition is very good and the greens are rolling perfectly, so there’s no excuse not to putt well unless we don’t get the break correctly,” said Ardina.

She maintains the Koreans will be the team to beat along with the new players from Australia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.

“But we’re ready. We have prepared hard for this. We just have to have a good start and take it from there,” said Ardina.