TEAM ICTSI coach Bong Lopez expects to surpass the team’s 36 victories last year with his aces, led by reigning US Girls’ Junior champ Princess Superal and Faldo Series Asia titlist Pauline del Rosario, ready to shine here and abroad.
“The team is doing great, in training, in building confidence and facing the challenges,” said Lopez, who has been at the helm of the ladies amateur golf the last six years, producing winners and developing fresh talents.
In fact, Superal, who accounted for 12 of the team’s 36 wins last year, has posted her first victory in the young season—a runaway triumph in Spring Junior in California last month. The nine-player ICTSI-The Country Club squad, which includes Yuka Saso, Sam Martirez, Sofia Chabon, Mikaela Fortuna, Abby Arevalo, Sam Green and Bernice Ilas-Olivarez, is currently vying abroad.
“2014 was a superb year for my team, and the entire country. This is a good sign as this means we are in the right direction in golf development,” said Lopez, a multititled amateur who won the national title in 1992. He also bagged the national boys crown in 1978, the Asian Junior title in 1982, the national junior plum in 1983 and led the PH champion team in the 1983 Putra Cup and 1991 SEA Games.
The 48-year-old teaching pro, as certified by Jack Nicklaus in 1997 and the USGTF in 2006, is also the swing guru of Jennifer Rosales, a two-time LPGA champion, and Angelo Que.