DAVAO City—Daniella Uy’s return to the attack mode has been a long time coming and that approach and mindset will again come to the fore as she launches her drive for a third straight Ladies Philippine Golf Tour victory in the ICTSI South Pacific Classic blasting off Tuesday at the South Pacific Golf Club here.
No one from among the compact 24-player field is coming into the P1 million championship with as much confidence and resolve than Uy, who snapped a run of stretch-run fold-ups that had cost her titles with victories at Forest Hills last June and at Del Monte last week.
“I’m confident I can win again,” said Uy after triumphing in the rain at Del Monte with a final round charge anchored on aggressive play.
She drew Harmie Constantino, Mikha Fortuna and Monica Mandario in the 8:10 a.m. flight on No. 1, after the foursome of amateurs Mafy Singson and Velinda Castil, Gretchen Villacencio and Sarah Ababa.
“At Forest Hills, it was more like of playing it safe. But in Del Monte, I was very confident of my drives. Since the course is rather long for us, I forced myself to hit the driver and it worked since it gave me more chances for birdies,” said the former Junior World champion, who scored her LPGT breakthrough at Riviera in 2021.
But it took her long before scoring a second victory, enduring a number of sorry misses, including a playoff loss to Constantno at Luisita, before edging Yvon Bisera by one in Antipolo.
Determined to go further her game, Uy vied in the LPGA of Japan Tour Q-School and passed the first stage of the grueling qualifier and her stint this week and in the next LPGT leg at Mimosa will all the more gauge her readiness to compete with the best in Japan and the region’s other rising players.
She posted a joint 18th finish and will head to Stage II next month on some kind of a roll with Asian Games-bound Lois Kaye Go, who tied for 27th, likewise resuming her bid for a pro card.
But at South Pacific, no one holds a distinct edge, this being the first time that the Arnold Palmer-designed par-72 layout, one of Sta. Lucia Realty’s top championship courses, which features a great landscape of creeks and ponds and rolling greens, will host an LPGT event.
That should give the rest equal footing in the battle for top honors with last week’s joint second placers – Korean Seoyun Kim and Singson and Castil – eyeing another shot at the crown along with two-leg winner Constantino and Pamela Mariano and local aces Yvon Bisera, Ababa and Chihiro Ikeda.
Focus will also be on the comebacking troika of Fortuna, Mandario and Marvi Monsalve while Koreans Minyeon Kim and Juyoung Yang spice up the title chase, with top amateur Laurea Duque also joining the fray in the 54-hole tournament organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and backed by PGTI’s official apparel Kampfortis Golf.
Monsalve and Kim tee off at the back at 7:50 a.m. with Bisera and Rev Alcantara, while Ikeda, Mariano, Duque and Lovelynn Guioguio start at 8:20 a.m., also on No. 1.