‘Tito’ Angelo refuses to be counted out, vows best fight vs Rising stars
Seventeen years removed from his first and only Philippine Open win, Angelo Que is now 46 years old and swears that the game has changed in a lot of ways.
“Well, for starters, a lot of the players I play against these days now call me ‘Tito’ (uncle),” Que told the Inquirer during a lull in practice at Manila Southwoods for the revival of the $500,000 (roughly P29 million) event that starts on Thursday next week.
“There are a lot of players now who can really hit it a mile,” Que went on. “So basically, it will be the same for a lot with regards to distance, which would make approach placements and putting key.”
Que will be one of the older players in the 144-strong field that sees action in the Asian Tour’s 2025 season kickoff at the Masters, and he feels that the host country has enough firepower to hold off a talented foreign field led by American Sihwan Kim and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond.
“We’re going to be playing against some of the best in the region,” Que added. “It will be a strong field, but I am confident that we [Filipino bets] will be there to contend.”
Sentimental favorite
He only wishes for conditions to be tougher come Open week, because that’s what most Filipinos like.
“We like it hard, like when I won [at Wack Wack East] in 2008,” he said.
Miguel Tabuena, a three-time Asian Tour winner, and Justin Delos Santos, a Japan Tour regular, will be spearheading the Philippine bid.
But with the event to be held at Southwoods—which he represented very well in a very decorated amateur career—the jolly Que could easily stand out as the sentimental favorite.
And even if he is now seen as an elder on the local and Asian Tour, which he also serves as a member of its board, Que—who also does a lot of daddy duties for two kids at home—knows that there’s still a lot of fight left in him.
“My game is still there,” he went on. “Still can hit it with the best out there. But the time to practice is what was taken away from me, and I love it because I do it for my family.”
“But make no mistake about it, my desire to win is very much there. It has never waned,” he went on. “I will give this [event]my best shot because I want to leave a lasting mark when I end my career.”
Win or lose, though, he already has. If at all, a win will be just icing on a very handsome cake.
