Wack Wack East’s ‘camel back’ to test Asian Tour aces
There are golf courses that favor the strong and long, but Angelo Que believes that Wack Wack East is not one of those, as the fabled, traditional layout in Mandaluyong hosts a banner 144-strong Asian Tour field vying for the first Philippine Golf Championship starting on Thursday.
“It’s not as long as the other courses. Even us old guys will have a chance to compete against the young players,” the 46-year-old Que, a three-time Asian Tour winner who banners the PH charge, said after the Pro-Am on Wednesday.
The East course is not the typical layout that most tours in the world play these days, beginning from the grass on its fairways to the trees that adorn the roughs and block sights to the greens caused by off-center tee shots.
But it remains to be one of the toughest tests in the country despite its relative shortness in length, with only two par-5s—one on each nine and two par-3s, one of them having the most terrible reputation in all of the land.
Playing as the 17th
The bunkers-guarded ‘camel-back’ green par-3, which plays as No. 8 for the members, will be made to play as the 17th hole, making it more treacherous because players get there already tired, especially in the third and fourth rounds when the pressure is at its heaviest.
Wack Wack East has hosted most of the Philippine Opens and that short hole, no more than 175 yards, has been the graveyard of the dreams of many, with the late Cassius Casas losing one Open there after he signed for a nine once.
Incidentally, this will be the second straight year that the Philippines will be hosting the opening leg of the Asian Tour. Last year, the Open, won by Frenchman Julien Sale, was played at the Masters of Manila Southwoods in Carmona, Cavite.
John Catlin, the American who won the Order of Merit title in 2024, banners the foreign charge, even as the local challenge seems formidable enough with Clyde Mondilla, another ex-Open winner like Que, also entered.
Miguel Tabuena had to beg off at the last minute after getting a call-up from LIV Golf to play in Saudi Arabia.
