ELMER Salvador shoots for a rare Asean Development Tour repeat in two weeks when the soft-spoken Filipino headlines a full 126-player field that tees off in the Aboitiz Invitational at tree-lined Cebu Country Club in Cebu.
Jay Bayron, the ADT’s reigning Order of Merit champion and former two-time winner of the event, is also in the $65,000 field along with a slew of other Filipinos like teen prodigy Miguel Tabuena.
The rest of the Top 5 in last year’s OOM—American James Bowen, Englishman Grant Jackson, James Byrne of Scotland and Japan’s Mitsuhiko Hashizume—will also be in the roster of the 72-hole championship that tees off July 22.
The event was launched yesterday with the Asian Tour’s Operations Director Jittisak Tamprasert, PGTI General Manager Colo Ventosa, Veco COO Sebastian Lacson, representing Aboitiz Group, Cebu CC GM Jeric Hechanova, and players Carl Santos-Ocampo and Charles Hong in attendance.
Salvador won last year by an astounding six shots over Antonio Lascuña and he has a chance to do what no player has so far done in the ADT—and that is to repeat as champion.
“I’ve come close to winning on the Asian Tour and my victory at the Aboitiz Invitational gave me renewed confidence to try harder,” said Salvador.
The four-day event is a joint undertaking of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, the International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Philippine Golf Tour. Musong R. Castillo