Lee heavy favorite as Champion Tour tees off

LEE Jeong-hwa of South Korea plays on veritable home ground when she guns for a sweep of the two-leg ICTSI Champion Tour starting Wednesday at Manila Southwoods’ Legends layout in Carmona, Cavite.

The well-built Lee will use her familiarity of the layout to the fullest as she guns to conquer the same field as she did a week ago during the Splendido stop of the tournaments presented by Champion and the Taiwan LPGA.

A long-time member of the host club, Lee has been practicing at the relatively long layout the past week and, coupled with her fine form of late, is no doubt installed as the woman to beat in the $75,000 event, where Dottie Ardina is tipped to carry the Filipinos’ fight.

“I would just like to play it one shot at a time,” said Lee, who also won the Philippine Ladies Amateur title here four years ago. She won that championship at the expense of star amateur Princess Superal, who is in Turkey playing in a big event.

“I would just like to focus on things that I can control and see what happens,” Lee said.

Japanese Fumika Kawagashi sets out for atonement after bungling an overnight lead going into the final round in Tagaytay to lose by one to Lee.

Ardina is the most decorated Filipino in the field with Cyna Rodriguez skipping the event, and the former Southeast Asian Games gold medal winner would like nothing than get back to her lofty status as the country’s finest.

A win here would definitely put Ardina  back on track and improve on an 11th place finish in Tagaytay.