Superal,Team Phl tee off vs Asia’s best

INCHEON, South Korea – The Philippines is fielding a young but determined squadron of lady golfers led by 17-year-old Princess Superal whose exploits are known far and wide in the junior circuits of the US and the fairways of Southeast Asia and Asia in its quest for gold in the Asian Games golf competitions unfolding today at the Dream Park Country Club.

Host Korea, whose serious golf program has brought its men and lady golfers to the LPGA and PGA, is expected to fight fiercely for the team and individual gold medals in four events, while Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and China loom as the favorites to crowd the host country for top honors at the par-72 championship course.

The lady golfers include Mia Legaspi and Superal’s fellow Team ICTSI mainstay Pauline del Rosario while the male golfers are Kristoffer Arevalo, Justin Rafael Quiban, Rupert Zaragosa III and Raymart Tolentino.

Korea and Japan are fielding young players aged 18 and below, with only a few international experiences to bank on, but the Koreans will have the proverbial home course edge on the Dream Park Country Club with its testy pin placements, all near the edge of the greens in the front nine, expected to take the wits out of the foreign opposition.

Korea is fielding 17-year-old Lee Boyoung, who finished fifth on the European Tour in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia this year.

Chinese Taipei’s 15-year old Hung Jo Hua played on the LPGA leg in Taiwan last year, while Sangchan Supamas is a member of the Thai team that won the bronze in the 2013 Myanmar Games.

Japanese Katsu Minami won the KTT Cup Ventelin Ladies Open this year to become, at 15, the youngest amateur golfer to win a professional tournament in Japan. She also won the Kyushu Amateur Women’s Golf Championship this year without having to wear a cast to protect a fractured left finger.

On the golf course, all the credentials, including Superal’s title in the US Girls Juniors and her individual gold in the Myanmar Games, won’t matter as the golfers wrestle with the wind and the unpredictable greens of Dream Park.

The weather is forecast to be sunny over the next four days, with temperatures at 22 degrees Celsius in the morning with winds no more than 0.6 km per hour in this country aptly called the Land of the Morning Calm.

The men will be the first to tee off, with Zaragosa with the 21st group at 11:48 a.m., Arevalo at 11:55 a.m., Quiban at 12:04 p.m. and Tolentino at 12:13 p.m.

First on the ladies’ tee is Legaspi at 12:31 p.m., Superal at 12:40 p.m. and Del Rosario with the last (12th) flight at 12:49 p.m.