With a huge field of 116, including the rising and leading amateurs from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Canada and the US, the chase for the country’s premier amateur crowns could go down to the last putt on Sunday at Riviera’s Couples layout.
Tom Kim looms as the player to beat in the men’s division owing to his local knowledge of the par-72 layout with the young Korean out to make up for his seven-stroke defeat to absentee Thai Sadom Kaewkanjana last year.
But a slew of local aces also primed themselves up during the short holiday break with Aniceta Mandanas and Carl Corpus, who placed fourth and fifth, respectively, last year leading the local challenge in the 72-hole championship sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation and held as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour.
Rupert Zaragosa, Judson Eustaquio, Kristoffer Arevalo, Luis Castro, Aidric Chan, Weiwei Gao, Gab Manotoc, Paolo Wong and Don Petil also in the hunt, ready to do battle against a crack international field headed by Kim Dong Hyun and Lim Su Min of Korea, Malaysians Muhammad Afif Mohd Fathi and Rhaasrikanesh A/L Kanavathi, and Brandon Han, Donovan Lee, Sean Lee and Jeryl Tan of Singapore.
