PH Amateur Open golf under way; Carlos chief title bidder

NATIONAL team mainstay Jobim Carlos, fully rested a month after taking his college finals exams, turns his sights on hitting paydirt in the Philippine Amateur Open starting today.

But as in all national championships, this week’s test at the tough Wack Wack East course in Mandaluyong will be a severe one for the entire field.

“If one can play one- or two-over-par a day for four rounds, then he has a solid chance at winning,” Carlos said on the eve of the 72-hole event presented by the MVP Sports Foundation.

“We played a practice round here last Friday and it was very tough,” added the University of San Francisco junior. “Putting will be very crucial because the greens are very unpredictable.”

Carlos backstops a big field of local hopes that will try to win back the PH Amateur championship after three long years.

Foreigners have dominated the event since 2011, with Jerome Ng of Singapore returning to duplicate his impressive victory last year.

The entire Singaporean national team will be on hand as well as close to a dozen Korean expatriates who fine-tune their games in the country at this time of the year.

Kristopher Arevalo, the reigning 13-14 world champion, Andres Saldana, the lefty out of Alabang who is entertaining thoughts of turning pro, and the returning former pro Tonlits Asistio are just three of the other notable local challengers.

Carlos admitted that he played so-so in the Southeast Asian Games in Burma (Myanmar) last month due to jet lag and stress caused by his college exams at USF. Now, he is hoping for a strong campaign.

The soft-spoken 20-year-old finished second in the nationals to Korean Wang Jeung-hun at the Langer course of The Riviera in 2011 and made the top five in the last two editions won by Singaporeans.

Marc Ong, Abdul Hadi and Johnson Poh are the other members of the Singaporean squad that flew in last week to familiarize themselves with the East layout.