Van der Valk takes good form to Caliraya leg

Guido Van der Valk. –CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

After two bridesmaid finishes to open up the Philippine Golf Tour season, Guido van der Valk looms as the logical man to beat when the P2.5 million ICTSI Caliraya Springs Championship gets off the ground next week in Cavinti, Laguna.

The loser in a playoff to Jonel Ababa for the Apo Golf crown and then finishing four strokes behind LJ Go in the Palos Verdes stop in Davao, Van der Valk obviously has his game tuned in as he faces basically the same field in the 72-hole championship that tees off on Tuesday.

READ: Van der Valk holds sway to lead by two 

Antonio Lascuña is the defending champion, but no player has shown remarkable rise that the Dutchman, as Ababa, after that win at Apo, struggled the following week at the well-manicured Palos Verdes layout.

Zannie Boy Gialon won this event two years ago and is also entered, but the mild-mannered Davao native was hardly a factor in the first two stops of the 10-leg circuit.

“I think it’s a wide-open race,” Lascuña told the Inquirer in Filipino during a brief break in practice at Manila Southwoods. “A lot of players are really playing well.”