BY WAYLON GALVEZ
who begged off due to a conflict in schedule with the finals of the Japan Golf Tour qualifying tournament
THE Philippine men’s and women’s golf teams hope to use its familiarity of the Luisita Golf and Country Club in Tarlac in its ambitious bid to complete a four-gold medal sweep in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.
This was revealed by National Golf Association of the Philippines secretary-general Bones Floro, saying their wards know the par-72 course like the back of their hands.
“Yes they’re very familiar playing at Luisita,” said Floro as SEA Games action is scheduled Dec. 4 to 8. “That is one of the things we’ll try to take advantage in the SEA Games.”
Members of the national team will be arriving this week from the United States where they are playing and studying just in time for the SEA Games, which will formally start on Saturday.
The men’s team is composed of Luis Castro of the University of North Carolina, Aidric Chan of San Jose State University, Carl Corpus of the Arizona University and Sean Ramos, the only high school player based here.
Comprising the women’s team are Bianca Pagdanganan of Arizona University, Lois Kaye Go of University of South Carolina and Abby Arevalo of SJSU Spartans.
Pagdanganan and Go are members of the gold medal winning Philippine Team during the Asian games last year alongside individual women’s champion Yuka Saso, who begged off due to a conflict in schedule with the finals of the Japan Golf Tour qualifying tournament.
Floro said that while the women’s team is a solid bet to capture the SEA Games gold, it’s a different story for the men’s squad.
“Our women’s team is very strong right now, but in the men’s division, Singapore and Thailand are strong teams but our national team will give it their best to win the gold medal,” said Floro.
In the previous SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines won a single bronze courtesy of Go.
