PGTI cuts short Q-School tilts

THE PILIPINAS Golf Tournaments, Inc., acting on President Duterte’s directive raising the Code Alert System for COVID-19 to Code Red Sublevel 2 and placing the National Capital Region under “community quarantine” Thursday night, yesterday called off the final round of its 72-hole Qualifying School for local and foreign bidders at Splendido Taal Golf Club.

“President Duterte last night (Thursday) raised the Code Alert System for the coronavirus disease to Code Red Sublevel 2. With the safety and interest of the players and staff our utmost concern, the PGT Tournament Committee has decided to shorten the PGT Qualifying Tournament to three days,” the PGTI said in a statement.

It added that the qualifiers for the 11th season of the country’s premier circuit will be determined by the scores after three rounds with Lloyd Go and Arnold Villacencio sharing top honors in the local elims with identical 213 outputs and CJ Lee of the US topping the foreign side with a similar 213 total after 54 holes of play.

The 30-day community quarantine will start midnight of March 15, 2020, along with stringent distancing measures to help fight off the spread of the virus, according to the President in a message broadcast from Malacañang.