SINGAPORE?Everyone and every team that matters in the 48th playing of the Putra Cup believes that they will play well. Only question that needs answering at this time, after the field saw the battleground Monday, would be: Just how low can one go?

After sampling the short and old Bukit layout of the Singapore Island Country Club here, the Philippines, as well as defending champion Thailand, agreed that there will be a lot of red numbers posted and that this year?s crown will be a three-cornered fight.

?It?s not a truly difficult course,? non-playing Thai skipper Methee Sudasna told the Philippine Daily Inquirer after concluding their practice round over the 84-year-old, par-71 James Braid creation. ?It will be a good fight among Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.
?I can?t really say what the winning (team) score would be,? he explained. ?But (after) seeing the course today, I would say that the individual (champ) would score around 8- to 10-under.

Even Philippine Team coach Bong Lopez agreed and is actually optimistic that the country can break the Thai dominance of the event and end the 12-year title wait for the Filipinos.

?Our players will play well on this course because our players learned the game playing on a course similar to this one back home. And it?s relatively short,? Lopez said while pointing to three Filipino aces who grew up in Apo Golf in Davao.

?Of course, length (off the tees) would give one an advantage,? Lopez said. ?But in a course as slow as this, the battle will be won with the short game. And our players are very good at this.?

A consistent drizzle has softened the carabao grass course, with the greens becoming slower than usual.

?Luck can also play a key role,? said RP Team spearhead Ferdie Aunzo in Filipino. ?Luck in the way that you don?t get much mud on your ball on your approach shots. You can?t control a muddied ball.?

Aunzo, like Jonel Ababa and first time RP Team member Rufino Bayron, all grew up and learned the game at Apo, which they say is very similar to the Bukit course.

?We have a very big chance,? Ababa, a product of the National Caddies? Open program based in Calatagan, Batangas, also said in Filipino. ?The course is not truly difficult.?

Aside from Thailand, which lost two members of its victorious team last year in Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Varut Chamchalam, Singapore is also rated highly with the coming of age of prodigy Choo Tze Huang.

Choo trained in the United States and together with the steady Quincy Quek gives the Singaporeans a solid backbone in the four-to-play, three-to-count event.

Singapore last hosted the Putra Cup in 1999 over at the Island course where Prom Meesawat led a Thailand sweep by also bagging the individual championship.

The Thais, whose first title came in 1985, have won eight of the last 11 editions of this event.