TCC Invitational test of will, character

STA. ROSA, Laguna, Philippines — There can’t be a more fitting launch to a new campaign than vying in a championship that will test the players’ skills and will as The Country Club Invitational fires off today at the dreaded TCC course here.

Former champions Tony Lascuña and Frankie Miñoza, reigning Philippine Open titlist Clyde Mondilla, young guns Ira Alido and Keanu Jahns plus the rest in last year’s Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit Top 30 slug it out in a survival of the fittest at the start of the P5 million event.

The select cast vowed to give their respective 2020 campaign a big boost, the championship being the kickoff leg of the country’s premier circuit. It ensures a spirited battle in all four days and another wild, unpredictable finish that has become the norm in what has long been considered as a golfing major for its prize fund, cast and prestige.

But they are in for a tough, exacting week given the Tom Weiskoph-designed layout’s length (7576 yards), its soft bunkers and sleek surface and the wind that will blow hard and come into play in most holes in all four days.