Princess Superal eyes strong finish in LPGT Taiwan

MANILA, Philippines — Princess Superal hopes to make the most of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour’s first venture abroad, armed with a kind of game and confidence needed in top-level tournaments like the Party Golfer Ladies Open, which unfolds tomorrow at the National Golf Country Club in Miaoli County in Taiwan.

The current LPGT Order of Merit frontrunner heads a lean but mean five-player Phl crew set to slug it out with the best of the Taiwan LPGA Tour, including the circuit’s top six players and a host of Thai aces who have won a number of events on this year’s LPGT calendar.

“It’s been a while since I last won, so that makes me hungry (for a title),” said the former US Girls Junior champion, who scored back-to-back title romps in LPGT Highlands and Riviera last March before slowing down in the next five LPGT tournaments.

She actually placed second in the TLPGA-sanctioned but rain-shortened Champion Tour at Southwoods and finished joint sixth in the other Champion Tour event at Midlands last July.

Mia Piccio, meanwhile, takes a break from her Symetra Tour stint to join Superal and former LPGA Tour campaigner and three-time LPGT OOM winner Cyna Rodriguez along with Daniella Uy and Marvi Monsalve in the 54-hole tournament which marks the first time that the LPGT is collaborating with the TLPGA in Taiwan as part of Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.’s effort to advance the growth of local ladies pro golf.

Meanwhile, PGTI general manager Colo Ventosa said the LPGT and TLPGA will also share the prize money when they co-stage the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Masters in February.

But the Filipinas face tall odds in the $100,000 event, which features the likes current TLPGA OOM leader Yu-Ju Chen, No. 2, Hsin Lee, third ranked Szu-Han Chen, No. 4 Min-Jou Chen, fifth ranked Yi-Chen Lio and No. 6 China Huang.

Thais Renuka Suksukont, Saranporn Langkulgasettrin, Wannasiri Sirisampant, Saruttaya Ngam-usawan, Ploychompoo Wilairungrueng, Onkanok Soisuwan and Yupaporn Kawinpakorn – all winners on the LPGT – bolster the already-formidable roster that includes Malaysian Dianne Luke, Korean Jin Hee Park, Japan’s Ai Asano and Ayaka Nakayama and Sock-ee Koh of Singapore.