In-form Murakami PH Open favorite

ARTEMIO MURAKAMI will be defending his ICTSI Philippine Open championship starting Thursday a “very happy” bidder despite coming off a narrow loss in Malaysia last Sunday.

“I shot 19-under and lost, I can’t do anything about that anymore,” Murakami said, referring to his second-place finish to American rookie Jonathan Moore in the PGM-ADT-CCM Impian Classic of the Asian Development Tour in Kajang, Selangor.

“I’ve played my last six rounds at 29-under, so I am very happy with that,” the burly Filipino-Japanese said when asked if he will be taking his A-game into the ICTSI-PH Open, Asia’s oldest national championship, at Wack Wack”s fabled East course.

“I just hope to take the momentum of those rounds to the Open because I will be up against a very talented field,” Murakami added.

After a two-year renovation, Wack Wack East was lengthened to more than 7,200 yards with new fairway bunkers and trickier greens.

Frankie Miñoza, the champion in 1998 at Riviera and 2007 at Wack Wack, is also in the fold, aiming to become the fourth man to win the event at least three times and the oldest champion on the Asian Tour.

Angelo Que, the champion the last time the Open was played at the East course in 2008, Juvic Pagunsan, Antonio Lascuna, Mars Pucay and Jay Bayron are the other stars of the 25-man PH contingent.

After a two-year absence, the Open is back on the Asian Tour calendar with port services giant ICTSI (International Container Terminal Services Inc.) presenting the event.

The other chief backers of the tournament: San Miguel Corp., Globe Telecom, Lexus, HSBC, Splash Corp. and Ayala Land Premier with Srixon, Ricoh, BlackBerry, Inetol, Motorola, Label 5 and Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria as supporters.