Korean Lee Jeong-hwa seeks back-to-back Champion Tour crowns

The ICTSI Champion Tour presented by Champion and Taiwan LPGA wraps up its two-week Manila swing at Manila Southwoods today (Wednesday, March 16) with Korean Lee Jeong-hwa aiming for a sweep and Japanese Fumika Kawagishi seeking a payback at the Legends course in Carmona, Cavite.

With the rest of the 69-player starting field, including a compact local roster, all primed up to do better following mediocre finishes in last week’s ICTSI Champion Tour’s Splendido leg, the battle for top honors is expected to be fierce through all three days of the $75,000 championship.

But focus will be on Lee, who outgunned Kawagishi in a thrilling backside duel to snare a one-stroke triumph at Splendido and head into this week’s event sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. as the top favorite among a stellar cast led by Taiwan LPGA Tour campaigners.

Aside from the so-called momentum, another thing going for Lee in the 54-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. is she would be playing on a bunker-laden course with sleek putting surface she calls home.

But the soft-spoken Korean would opt to downplay her chances and her slight homecourt edge and instead stressed the need to stay focused throughout in the face of top-notch opposition in the event backed by adidas, Custom Clubmakers, KZG, TaylorMade, Champion, Summit Natural Drinking Water, Pacsports, Sharp and Rustans Supermarket.

“I will focus on my routine and just play one shot at a time,” said Lee, who capped her amateur career with a victory in the Philippine Ladies Open at Southwoods Legends course in 2012. “I’ll just focus on the things I can control and let’s see what happens.”

Kawagishi is also raring to make things happen this week after a failed bid at Splendido that saw her blow a two-stroke lead with eight holes to play with a shaky windup. She actually birdied the final hole but still fell by one with the Yokohama native hopeful of finally pulling it off this time.

But a slew of others are also out to press their respective title drive in this second leg of the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour and the sixth stage of TLPGA, guaranteeing a shootout among the TLPGA Tour mainstays, the local aces and a crack Thailand contingent out to keep the crown won by absentee Wannasiri Sirisampant last year.

Heading the Thais’ challenge are Kanphanitnan Muangkhumaskul, winner of the kickoff leg of this year’s TLPGA and joint third last week, Pornpak Paksakul, Alisara Wedchakama, Chatpara Siriprakob and Amolkan Phalajivin, who won the LPGT Splendido leg in 2014 but has struggled to regain her form the last few months.

Symetra Tour campaigners Dottie Ardina and Mia Piccio, on the other hand, banner the locals’ bid along with former LPGT winners Sarah Ababa and Jayvie Agojo while reigning Thailand Juniors and Ladies Amateur Open winner Pauline del Rosario leads a talent-laden cast of amateurs seeking to upstage the pros, including The Country Club teammates Sam Martirez and Kayla Nocum, club bets Annika Cedo and Yuka Saso, former Youth Olympics gold medalist Miya Legaspi and Korean Huang Min-jeong, who stunned the pro field to win the LPGT Mt. Malarayat leg last year.