Focus on Mondilla as ICTSI Players begins

LIPA City, Batangas, Philippines — The Philippine Golf Tour winds up its 2017 season with the ICTSI Players Championship beginning today here with focus on Clyde Mondilla and a slew of local players out to foil the virtual Order of Merit champion and improve on their respective OOM rankings at the Summit Point Golf Club.

Mondilla, winner of three tournaments this year, including the ICTSI Rivera Classic of the PGT Asia Tour two weeks ago, slugs it out with Zanieboy Gialon and Jhonnel Ababa in the 7:30 a.m. flight on No. 1, relieved of the pressure of gutting it out in the final PGT leg for a first OOM crown.

With three of the country’s leading players in the OOM Top 4 list out for this week’s P3 million event sponsored by ICTSI, Mondilla is a cinch for the coveted individual title with P2,606,409 in earnings with the fifth-running Ababa and No. 6 Gialon too far behind with winnings of P1,585,345 and P1,223,572, respectively.

But the Del Monte ace has vowed to go all the way in this event, which stakes P550,000 prize to the winner, in a bid to boost his confidence for the PGTA circuit which resumes in November with two $100,000 tournaments.

That also goes with the rest of the elite 75-player field, ensuring a spirited battle for top honors at the par-72 Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed layout which features replicas of 18 renowned golf holes in the world.

“Clyde has the edge on long courses because of his power. But at Summit Point, we’re pretty even off the tee, so I think it will boil down to who putts well in the end,” said Gialon, seeking a follow-up to his runaway victory at ICTSI Calatagan last June.

Tony Lascuña, Miguel Tabuena and Angelo Que, the next three players behind Mondilla in the OOM ranking, will not be around this week with Lascuna and Tabuena competing in the Taiwan Masters and Que vying in the Japan PGA Tour.