Splendido Classic fires off PG Tour

MANILA, Philippines — With Angelo Que taking the week off, the P1.5-million ICTSI Splendido Classic kicking off the Philippine Golf Tour season Wednesday in Tagaytay will be a wide-open race.

Que—notwithstanding his final-round collapse in the Solaire Open on Sunday at The Country Club in Laguna—would have been installed as the solid favorite but he opted to join the Tour only next week in Baguio for the P2-million Camp John Hay Championship.

A total of 16 legs have been lined up this year and the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. has raised the prize money to at least P1.5 million per leg while making each tournament a 72-hole affair.

Miguel Tabuena and Clyde Mondilla, the highest finishers for the Philippines at TCC at joint seventh, Antonio Lascuña, Jonel Ababa, Cassius Casas and the ageless Frankie Miñoza are the other fancied players in the field.

There will also be a handful of foreigners on the roster as the PGT opened Q-School to international players, led by former Philippine Open champion Rick Gibson of Canada.

The traditional pro-am ushers in the event today with teams made up of officials of sponsors Nike Golf, Custom Clubmakers, Titleist, Cleveland, Pacsports, Srixon, Callaway, Sharp and FootJoy, seeing action.