Jay Bayron and Elmer Salvador each gear up for a crack at a record third Aboitiz Invitational crown but hard-pressed to check their erratic games in time for the $100,000 event beginning tomorrow, Wednesday at the Orchard Golf and Country Club’s Palmer Course in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
Bayron, who ruled the first two editions of what has become a major championship on the local circuit from 2011-12, and Salvador, who dominated the next two staging, all in Cebu, have turned in just a runner-up finish each in the last seven tournaments on the Philippine Golf Tour in stints marred by mediocre finishes that included one missed cut each.
“They say I’m lucky playing in Aboitiz but the field is strong,” said Bayron. “But I hope I can put it all together this week and win again.”
Bayron actually captured the PGA Asia crown at Manila Southwoods last June but the former Order of Merit winner has struggled after placing second to Justin Quiban at PGT Bacolod last month, finishing tied for 19th in Negros, sharing 13th place in Iloilo and ending up tied at 23rd in the rain-shortened Club Filipino de Cebu Invitational last week.
The reticent Salvador started the provincial circuit on a high note with a second place finish to Jobim Carlos at Apo but wavered in the next six events organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc., finishing at joint 20th in Iloilo before missing the cut in Cebu.
But a record third win in the event sponsored by Aboitiz Equity Ventures and now serving as one of the featured events of PGT Asia will be more than motivation for these two veteran campaigners from talent-rich Davao along with the rest of the 100-player starting field eager to slug it out for the top $17,500 purse.
They include Jobim Carlos, also out to rebound from a so-so finish in Club Filipino after dominating the Visayas and Mindanao swing of the PGT with two victories and two runner-up finishes to all but clinch the coveted Order of Merit crown, Jhonnel Ababa, who won in Cebu and winner of the last PGT Asia leg at Forest Hills last July.
Tony Lascuña, the Aboitiz Invitational champion in 2014 but whose game took a downswing at the start of the 2018 season, also hopes to regain his winning touch, particularly on the greens, along with reigning OOM winner but slumping Clyde Mondilla, Phl Masters titlist Jerson Balasabas, Zanieboy Gialon, Keanu Jahns, former PGTA leg champion Quiban and Nilo Salahog.
But the local top guns will have their hands full against a crack roster of foreign players, led by young but talented Kim Joo Hyung of Korea, Thai veterans Wisut Artjanawat, Chirat Jirasuwan, Tommy Mansuwan, Pasavee Lertvilai and Thammanoon Sriroj, Aussies Tim Stewart, Damien Jordan, Simon Vitakangas and Nathan Park and Americans Brett Munson, John Michael O’Toole, Jacob Fleck and Lexus Keoninh.
A select number of pros prime up for the keenly awaited event as they vie in the today’s pro-am tournament where they will be paired with guests and officials of the event’s chief backers, including ICTSI, Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, Champion, Summit Mineral Water, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT and M.Y. Shokai Technology, Inc.