Thai pros lead cast at Forest Hills
Forty-two foreign aces, led by the crack Thai contingent, will see action when the Philippine Golf Tour Asia resumes Wednesday at the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club in Antipolo.
Veteran campaigner Wisut Artjanawat and former PGT Sherwood leg winner Ittiphat Buranatanyarat along with Aussies Andrew Campbell and Damien Jordan, South African Mathiam Keyser, Finland’s Janne Kaske and Americans Nicolas Paez, John Michael O’Toole, Brett Munson, Lexus Keoninh and Eliott Hume are in the cast vying for honors in the $100,000 ICTSI Forest Hills Championship.
Forest Hills, a course designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, will play host to the fourth leg of the second season of the region’s newest circuit.
David Gleeson of Australia ruled the PGTA’s kickoff leg at Luisita last April, nipping unheralded Erwin Arcillas in a playoff. But Filipino players topped the next two with Jobim Carlos winning at Riviera and Jay Bayron taking the Southwoods crown.
Forest Hill’s rolling layout, ravines and hazards provide challenges for the pros, not to mention the unpredictable winds.
“The course and the condition vary and one has to mind not only his game but also try to better his rivals,” said Lascuña who has two wins at Forest Hills.
But the Davaoeño shotmaker has remained winless in the new season.
Other local pros expected to fare prominently are two-leg winner Jhonnel Ababa, former PGTA leg winner Justin Quiban, Elmer Salvador, Michael Bibat, Zanieboy Gialon, Marvin Dumandan and Mars Pucay, also a former PGT winner at Forest Hills.
Other top foreign pros include Dutch Guido Van der Valk, Koreans Lee Song and Park Jun Sung, Jack Sullivan of Australia, Josh Salah of the US, Thais Natchanon Varapornkittirat and Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij, Peter Stojanovski of Macedonia and New Zealand’s Niholas Coxon.
Meanwhile, a select group of pros tests the layout tomorrow during the pro-am event with officials and amateur guests 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.