The country’s top and rising players hope to turn in strong performances coming off the holiday break as they clash in the eighth National Doubles Amateur Golf Championship firing off today (Dec. 27) at the Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club in QC.
Don Petil seeks to defend the crown with a new partner in JR Salahug but they expect a tough challenge from a field toughened by the presence of Asian Games bronze medalist Bianca Pagdanganan, a noted team player who helped anchor the Philippines’ gold medal feat in team competition in the recent Asiad in Jakarta.
Pagdanganan, also a former Philippine Ladies Amateur Open winner, will have former Junior World champion Jed Dy as teammate, making them one of the pairs to watch in the three-day tournament sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation and organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.
Others tipped to contend for the crown in NGAP’s season-ending tournament serving as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour and backed by Cignal and Metro Pacific are the tandems of Jet Hernandez-Josh Jorge and Kristine Torralba-Santino Laurel, Ivan Monsalve-Aldo Barro, along with those of Paqo Barro-Jeff Jung;
Lanz Uy-Ryan Monsalve, Leandro Bagtas-Francis Lanuza, David Guangko-Annika Guangko, Rald Sarmiento-Masaichi Otake, Arnie Taguines-Samanthan Dizon and Paolo Uy-Patrick Uy.
Sean Ramos, winner of the Cangolf Am Open and Northern Luzon Regional Championship, also hopes to close out the season with another win, tapping Gabby Macalaguim as partner in the event which features the four-ball (best ball), aggregate and foursomes (alternate shot) formats.
The field plays the four-ball format today with action shifting to aggregate tomorrow. Friday’s final round will feature the two-ball foursomes.
Aside from Group I for members of national team and for players with handicap index of 4.0 or less, also on tap are the Group 2 (4.1 and above) and Group III (players 30-years-old-and-above regardless of handicap).
Leading the Group II cast are Franco Rivera-Ciaran O’Driscoll, Sean Granada-Matthew Abalos, Miguel Roque-Santino Diokno, and Cedric Aunzo-Jermaine Melosantos, while the pairs of Wilson Caro-Timothy Del Mundo, JB Liclican-Vic Se, Louie Aguinaldo-Jimmy Suelo, and Clarence Aytona-Butch Bakunawa lead the Group III field.
