The Philippine Golf Tour ushers in a new decade with its flagship championship—The Country Club Invitational—unfolding on March 4, featuring an elite 32-player that will be subjected to possibly the most brutal test at the wind-swept TCC course.
Two-time champion Tony Lascuña and 2013 titlist Frankie Miñoza head the select cast in the country’s richest championship (P5 million) outside of the Philippine Open.
The Tom Weiskopf-designed layout will be the monster that the field would need to conquer because of its length, hazards that are always in play and winds that howl over the course at this time of year.
Kim Joo-hyung pooled a two-over 290 to edge Fil-German Keanu Jahns by one in a thrilling finish last year, keeping the crown at the hands of the Korean-Americans for the second straight year after Micah Shin humbled Miguel Tabuena in 2018.
But Kim, Shin and some of the past champions, including Juvic Pagunsan and Angelo Que, both three-time titlists, and Tabuena, won’t be around to chase for another diadem to honor previous commitments although the depth of the field remains as talent-laden as ever with Clyde Mondilla also going for back-to-back wins at TCC after ruling the Solaire Philippine Open last year.