Avaricio, Malixi to lead Filipina golfers bid to retain Asian Games title

MANILA, Philippines – Chanelle Avaricio joins Rianne Malixi and holdover Lois Kaye Go as they try to extend the Philippines’ reign in the Asian Games golf competitions when the 19th staging of the quadrennial sporting conclave is held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China.

But while they pack power and armed with a winning mindset needed in such kind of cutthroat competition, they will be hard-pressed to match the country’s breakthrough sweep of the women’s golf medals in the last Asiad in Jakarta in 2018.

Yuka Saso charged back in the closing holes to overcome a huge deficit and snatch the individual gold while powering the squad that included Bianca Pagdanganan, who also clinched the individual bronze, and Go, to the team championship.

But Saso, born to a Japanese father and Filipina mother in San Ildefonso, Bulacan on June 20, 2001, chose the Japanese citizenship five months after scoring a milestone victory in the US Women’s Open in June 2021, leaving the Philippines’ women’s golf squad without an ace.

But Avaricio, who campaigns on the Epson Tour, and amateur Malixi have dominated the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour the past two years and are more than skilled and equipped to slug it out with the region’s best in the golf event slated September 28 to October 1 at the West Lake International Golf Course in Xihu District.

Avaricio is coming off a strong finish in the just-concluded LPGA Q-School Stage I with her Asian Games stint also serving as part of her buildup for Stage II scheduled on October 17-20 at the Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida.

Malixi, who placed fourth in individual play in the last SEA Games in Cambodia, is coming off a series of top-level tournaments in the amateur ranks, including a runner-up finish in the US Girls’ Junior.

Go, meanwhile, has nowhere to go but up as she continues to work on her game in an effort to reach competitive form and provide the needed support and perhaps take the lead role for Team Philippines in the upcoming Asiad.

The men’s golf squad, on the other hand, will be led by pros Clyde Mondilla and Ira Alido with amateurs Aidric Chan and Carl Corpus completing the cast.