S’woods braces for Resorts shootout

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Southwoods’ Masters Course is more than ready to host the inaugural Resorts World Manila Masters and challenge the region’s top shotmakers when the $750,000 event is held beginning Thursday in Carmona, Cavite.

The par-72 layout was not much affected by the wrath of super typhoon Yolanda and, thus, remained in tip top shape for the full field tournament which features 132 players, including the top 30 in the Order of Merit on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour.

“The Masters course is good to go. We have done some minor improvements over the past month. The players will have a great time playing it,” said Southwoods general manager Mark Watson.

A handful of Asian Tour stars have arrived earlier than usual and tested the hazard-laden course yesterday. More players are expected to plane in today in time for the traditional pro-am side tournament set tomorrow.

Among the contenders are reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, comebacking two-time PGA Tour winner Daniel Chopra of Sweden, China’s Liang Wen-chong, Singapore’s Mardan Mamat and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang, who have both recorded victories in the country.

Wiratchant will be looking to boost his current ranking on the merit list where he is 16th with a haul of $129,634.

“I’m looking forward to returning to the Philippines to compete. The field is going to be a strong one and I’m determined to put up a good performance worthy of my reputation as the reigning OOM champion,” said Wiratchant.

Mamat, the 46-year-old Singaporean, will return to the country of his famous victory where he ended a six-year title drought in 2012.

“I was really happy when I won in the Philippines last year. All the good memories from winning the Singapore Masters in 2006 came back. When I won, it was from start to finish. It boosted my confidence.  My wife was very encouraging and supportive, too,” said Mamat.

But they’ll be up against a strong local contingent spearheaded by three-time tour champ Angelo Que, who finished tied for fourth in last Sunday’s Indian Open, along with reigning ICTSI PGT OOM titlist Antonio Lascuna, Mars Pucay, Elmer Salvador, teener Miguel Tabuena, and a slew of PGT stars including Cassius Casas, who won in a playoff last week in Canlubang.

Also in the field are former Philippine Open titlist and Asia’s No. 1 Frankie Miñoza, Jhonnel Ababa, Mhark Fernando, Michael Bibat, Edward Reyes, Gerald Rosales, Jessie Balasabas, Charles Hong, Rufino Bayron and Elmer Saban.

Que and Lascuna will also use the four-day event as their final tune for next week’s ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.