Malixi leads favorites in Marapara stop of LPGT

Five players coming off tough international campaigns, counting two seasoned but young amateurs, are fancied as the ones to watch when the ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic gets off the ground starting March 16 at the tricky Marapara layout.

Coming off stints abroad that toughened them up, Rianne Malixi and Mafy Singson will be trying to snatch the title from the pros in the 54-hole championship even as Daniella Uy, Chanelle Avaricio and Marvi Monsalve will be showing up fresh from campaigns in the Thai Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Classic.

Another player who will surely have eyes on her will be Cyna Rodriguez, the comebacking many-time winner of the Order of Merit (OOM).

There will only be 21 players teeing it up, but the fight for the title is seen to be tight with Sunshine Baraquiel and Mia Piccio also entered in the P875,000 event.

Rodriguez won the OOM a record three times before going to the US LPGA. An assortment of injuries led to her losing her membership as she tries to regain her winning ways this week in Bacolod.

Piccio played college golf for the University of Florida and represented the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games. She has vast knowledge of Marapara, having grown up in Bacolod and learning the game there.

Focus, though, will largely be on Malixi, who swept all her three LPGT stints last year, winning the Luisita, Valley Golf and Riviera legs. INQ