Tougher Aboitiz Invitational set in Cebu

CEBU CITY—The Aboitiz Invitational goes international as part of the Asian Development and the ICTSI Tours for its second edition starting on Aug. 31 at the Cebu Country Club here.

Juvic Pagunsan, Artemio Murakami and Antonio Lascuña banner the Philippine challenge against the rising stars of the region as they chase more than $65,000 in prize money in one of the oldest, most exclusive layouts in the country.

A total of 126 professionals coming from 30 countries make up the field, which will also be the first pro event at the CCC since the late 1990s during the defunct Philip Morris tour.

The event was launched Tuesday afternoon with Aboitiz executive Basti Lacson, the PGT’s Colo Ventosa, the ADT’s Htwe Hla Han and Murakami, Carl Santos-Ocampo and Faiz Damit from Bahrain in attendance.

And unlike last year when the Aboitiz Invitational hosted an all-Filipino field, save for Dutch expatriate Guido Van Der Valk, and was played over just 54 holes, this year’s version will be a 72-hole tough test.

From the usual par-72, the course will be made into a par-70 layout with the long seventh and 11th holes, which play as par-5s to members, to be made par-4s by pushing the tee boxes a little forward.

“To tell you the truth, I am very disappointed that those holes will be made into par-4s,” Murakami said amid laughs from the attending media. “That dramatically cuts down the chance for the players to score.”

Jay Bayron, runnerup to American Berry Henson in this year’s Philippine Open at Wack Wack, will try to win the event for the second straight year, though CCC GM Clifford Celdran believes that the winning score will be much higher than last year’s 11-under total for 54 holes.

“The ADT has given us orders to make the golf course tougher,” Celdran said during the media event.

The CCC, even if stretched to its fullest length, pales in comparison to the usual 6,900-to-7,300-yard courses that the ADT field is used to playing, but Celdran believes they can make it into one of the toughest tests in this year’s ADT schedule.

Roughs will be grown into considerable length and the fairways will be narrowed down to 25 yards at the widest to punish errant tee shots and make approaches coming from the tall grass impossible to stop on the rock solid greens.

Only Angelo Que will be out of the Philippine roster for the event as he will be campaigning in Switzerland by then.

Frankie Miñoza is injured, but the organizers are hoping that the revered ace from Bukidnon would get well enough to return to the site of his Philippine Amateur victory in the late 1970s.