Wide-open Lakewood leg gets off the ground

It’s going to be anybody’s game at Lakewood, says Clyde Mondilla. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A course that practically no one in the field has played a competitive round on is enough of a sidebar when the ICTSI Lakewood Championship gets off the ground on Tuesday, with the unknown the layout’s biggest defense since the well-manicured layout measures less than 6,700 yards.

“Iron game and putting will be keys over this course,” Reigning Order of Merit champion Jonel Ababa said after playing the course for the first time during Monday’s Pro-Am. “That is so because it is so short.”

After playing some of the toughest tests in the land in Apo Golf and Villamor, the field has little to no knowledge of Lakewood as the Philippine Golf Tour makes its first stop in humid Nueva Ecija, and because of this, former Philippine Open champion Clyde Mondilla believes that it’s a wide open race.

‘Very challenging’

“This will be a very challenging leg because this will be our first time playing this course,” Mondilla said. “I’m excited, but at the same time, it’s anybody’s game.”

The usual P2.5 million pot is dangled this week, and several rookies are considered to be in the hunt after figuring well in the PH Masters at Villamor two weeks ago.

South Korea’s Hyun Ho Rho is one of them, having finished second to Angel Que in the Masters. Ryan Monsalve, the former national playing out of Manila Southwoods, is also seen as a threat after leading the Masters at the halfway mark.

“I feel good about this week. I gained a lot of confidence after my game at the Masters,” said Rho, a 19-year-old who finished four shots behind Que, an absentee this week because of a prior commitment in Japan. INQ