Que eyes 2nd Solaire Phl Open diadem

MANILA, Philippines - Angelo Que hopes to ride the momentum of his runaway triumph at Anvaya last week although he would be heading to next week’s $400,000 Solaire Philippine Open with a different approach given the makeup of The Country Club layout, refurbished to world-class standard.

‘I’m pretty excited about the Philippine Open,” said Que, who romped off with a nine-stroke win over Japanese Toru Nakajima at the ICTSI Anvaya Cove Invitational last week, making him one of the marked players in the country’s premier championship set March 2-5.

“The (Anvaya) win was a big confidence-boost but I’ll be playing with a different mindset at TCC because it’s long,” said Que, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, including the Philippine Open at Wack Wack in 2008.

TCC’s length could indeed be daunting, even for some of the region’s long-hitters, including Que. And with the wind expected to come into play in all four days, the battle for the top $72,000 purse in the 99th staging of the blue-ribbon event sponsored by Solaire Resort and Casino and held in cooperation with Meralco and PLDT may well turn out to be a survival of the fittest.

The way it did in the recent TCC Invitational, where 2015 Phl Open champion Miguel Tabuena rallied to edge Juvic Pagunsan by one with a staggering 13-over 301 total.

TCC’s length is pegged at 7652 yards and could measure up to 7735 with the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. opting to use three Tiger tees (farther from the Championship tees) on Nos. 9, 11 and 16.