The two-leg Davao swing of the Philippine Golf Tour gets off the ground Wednesday with Elmer Salvador looking to capture back-to-back championships for the first time in his career when he tees off in the P1.5 million ICTSI Palos Verdes Championship.
The soft-spoken ex-caddy from Apo Golf, which is less than an hour away from the well-manicured Palos layout, is tagged as the man to beat after showing sharp form in ruling the Riviera Classic in Cavite last Saturday.
Miguel Tabuena, the prodigy who won the Splendido leg, Jay Bayron and Antonio Lascuña, still seeking his first win this season after ruling five legs last year, are the other fancied bets.
This leg will be the first of two played on successive weeks, with Apo Golf the venue of action next week where the likes of Salvador, Bayron and Lascuña are tipped to frolic because they knew the course like the back of their hands.
No one holds a distinct advantage at Palos Verdes, however. Palos is a relatively wide-open, driving course where the long hitters will have the advantage.
Meanwhile, Zannie Boy Gialon partnered with Mayong Pillerin, Andy Ugduracion and Jaime Tan Jr. in shooting a 20-under-par 52 to rule the traditional pro-am via a countback over Anthony Fernando’s team.
Fernando, the former PH team spearhead, led the team of Danny Briones, Danny Davila and Wendell Adlao past the third-placed squad composed of Jonel Ababa and amateur Patrick Tan, Toffee Tionko and Vince Arcenas, which shot a 54.