Miñoza plays for ‘Yolanda’ victims

CARMONA, Cavite—The inaugural $750,000 Asian Tour Resorts World Masters gets off the ground at the Masters course of Manila Southwoods here, and Frankie Miñoza, the most revered Filipino in the field, is hoping to win for the sake of his disaster-stricken compatriots.

“It would be nice to win this week, so that I can make some money and help the typhoon victims,” Minoza said, referring to thousands of Visayans who were devastated and displaced by Supertyphoon Yolanda last week.

“Filipinos have very strong hearts. We are used to typhoons hitting our country,” Miñoza, the 53-year-old, added. “We (Filipinos) will get over this. We are survivors and we help each other.”

Miñoza is just one of a handful of formidable local hopes in the tournament counting Angelo Que and Antonio Lascuna, who are using the event as warmup for their World Cup stint in Melbourne Nov. 21 to 24.

Que and Lascuna both know the Masters layout like the back of their hands, being members and having represented the club so many times in the past.

Lascuna won the last pro tournament held here, scoring 14-under par for 72 holes during the 2012 Southwoods Championship of the ICTSI. The dusky bet from Davao also won at the adjacent Legends layout with a 21-under total two months ago.

A notable absentee is Juvic Pagunsan, the 2011 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, who is not in the list of entries as of yesterday. Now campaigning mostly on the Japan Golf Tour where last week he scored an 83 in the final round of the Heiwa PGM Championship to finish in a tie for 54th place, Pagunsan withdrew in the second round of the Solaire Open at Wack Wack last April, saying he had  to attend to his pregnant wife.

Pagunsan, also under suspension from the local golf circuit, was seen three weeks ago playing with some friends, sampling the Masters layout.