LPGT breaks golf barriers with Taiwan LPGA event

MANILA, Philippines — The Ladies Philippine Golf Tour will co-stage a Taiwan LPGA event next month in Taiwan, marking the first time that the local circuit will be holding a tournament abroad through the Party Golfer Ladies Open on Oct. 3-5 at the National Golf Country Club in Miaoli County.

The LPGT, through its sponsor ICTSI, and its TLPGA counterpart Party Golfer will be splitting the $100,000 money purse for the 54-hole tournament that will also give the Filipina pros the rare chance to compete overseas against the best and rising players in the region.

“This is in line with LPGT’s continuing effort to raise the level of play among the local pros and advance the growth of ladies pro golf,” said Colo Ventosa, general manager of Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., organizer of the country’s men’s and women’s pro circuits. “By exposing them abroad, we would be providing them the opportunity to compete on a different setup and environment, which we hope will be beneficial to their respective games.”

Pauline del Rosario, the reigning LPGT Order of Merit champion, has actually won a TLPGA event when she rallied in the final round and snared the TLPGA and Royal Open crown last year. Ventosa is confident of producing more and more Filipina winners in one of the region’s leading circuits.

“Our local pros have been competing with the TLPGA ladies through the TLPGA-sanctioned LPGT tournaments that we’ve been holding twice each year the last three seasons. This time I am hoping our ladies will do well outside the Philippines,” said Ventosa.

“Pauline has already won a TLPGA tournament and we hope one of the ladies would be able to duplicate her feat soon,” she added.

The Party Golfer Ladies Open will feature the leading TLPGA players and those from other regional circuits with Symetra Tour campaigners Mia Piccio and Princess Superal to spearhead the Filipinas’ bid in the event co-sanctioned by the TLPGA and LPGT.

The two circuits will also share the prize money when they co-stage the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Masters in February.

“Our goal is to grow the ladies tour and we need more of our talents to play abroad and join Dottie (Ardina), who is now doing so well on the Symetra Tour,” said Ventosa, referring to the ICTSI-backed pro who is now a cinch to gain full membership for next year’s LPGA Tour. “We want the LPGT to be as big as our PGT and PGT Asia tours.”