Crack field signs up for Stronghold Senior Open
A multititled cast of former Philippine Open champions and multiple leg winners in the regular men’s PGT will see action in a very different setting as they play in the first Stronghold Insurance Senior Open slated Dec. 8 to Dec. 10 at tree-lined Hallow Ridge in San Pedro, Laguna.
Robert Pactolerin and Mario Manubay, ex-Open champs of different eras, have signed up and will headline different divisions, even as Antonio Lascuña, the only five-time winner of the PGT’s Order of Merit, looms as the man to beat in the premier 50-59 class that will offer a top prize of P150,000.
This is by far the biggest event ever put up for pros over 50, even as a field as big as 10 international players coming from Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia have already expressed interest in competing.
“It’s certainly a welcome addition to the local professional golf landscape,” the 54-year-old Lascuña said in Filipino, even welcoming the participation of the foreign aces. “That will add color to the tournament. The competition is something we are all looking forward to.”
Stronghold Insurance has held senior tournaments in the past, albeit shorter ones. And this is the company’s first foray in a multiple-round tournament, with its president and general manager, Romulo Delos Reyes Jr., having a soft spot for the country’s senior players.
The 50-59 class, which will be known as the Senior division, and the Super Senior bracket for players who are 60-69, will be played over three rounds with a cut to be made after the first round.
There are as many as 45 players expected in the Senior bracket, not counting the foreign participants, even as a 70-and-above division crown will be disputed over 18 holes on Dec. 10, where a handsome P50,000 paycheck awaits the champion.
Mars Pucay, also a multiple PGT winner who is also the president of the senior players association, and Orlan Sumcad will be Lascuña’s chief threats.
