Premium will be on accuracy as 20 teams aim to gain the proverbial head start in a tournament with varied formats in the National Doubles Amateur Golf Championship reeling off tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 27) at the short but tricky Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club.
Jed Dy and Mikha Fortuna loom as the tandem to beat in the three-day event with the former looking to make it two straight after teaming up with LPGA Tour-bound Bianca Pagdanganan last year. But the rest are all coming into the event all geared up to end 2019 with a victory for the momentum needed for the next season’s campaign beginning Jan. 7, 2020 at Riviera.
Reigning Indonesian Amateur titlist Luis Castro and fellow SEA Games bronze medal team member Sean Ramos are also tipped to contend for the crown with Andres Lorenzo and Gabby Macalaguim as partners, respectively, along with the pairs of Zachary Castro-Miguel Ilas, Luigi Guerrero-Dan Cruz, Aldo Barro-Ivan Monsalve, Don Petil-Leandro Bagtas, Josh Jorge-Santino Laurel and Jonar Austria-Marco Olives.
Play will be four-ball (best ball) at the tight par-68 layout with action shifting to aggregate tomorrow (Saturday) with the two-ball foursomes (alternate shot) to cap the closing event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation.
Four girls’ tandems are also out to spring a surprise, including Rianne Malixi and Precious Zaragosa, and Laureas Duque and Eagle Ace Superal, Tomita Arejola and Nicole Abelar, and Sam Martirez and Diana Araneta, guaranteeing an unpredictable finish to the event held as part of the PLDT National Amateur Golf Tour and backed by Cignal and Metro Pacific Investments.
The tournament also serves as part of the field’s tune-up for the 2020 National Stroke Play Championship set Jan. 7-10. Listup is ongoing. For details, call NGAP at telefax No. (02) 7065926 or at Riviera Golf Club, Inc. at (02) 888-9089 or 0956-8821149 email ngap2009handicap@yahoo.com.
Other tandems in the fold are Rald Sarmiento-Masaichi Otake, Paolo Barro-Jeff Jung, Santino Diokno-Miguel Roque. Manfred Guangko-David Guangko, Aries Mata-Lawrence Celestino, Menard Co-Roy Nodalo, and Liam Cully-Christopher Popp.
Aside from the centerpiece 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-Mark Rivera, Gabby Rosca-Reese Ng, Christian Acero-Joseph Orbito, Sophia Blanco-Alexi Blanco, and Larry Patnongon-Jaime Patnongon while the pairs of Dexter Pelia-Titus Aguilar, Allan Rubrica-Dennis Nicomedes, Jimmy Suelo-Romeo Lopez, and Ricky Velasco-Ramon Capistrano lead the Group III field.