Philippine Golf Tour | All Set for ICTSI Pueblo de Oro Championship

2018 Jul 2 | by Apple Barretto

By Mike Baños, Editor-at-Large at the Mindanao Daily News

The ICTSI Pueblo de Oro Championship gets going with a one-day Pro-Am Tournament on July 3 (Tuesday) at the world class Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club in Cagayan de Oro City.

Some 20 teams are participating with each composed of three (3) amateurs and one (1) professional.

The Pro-Am kicks off with a double-barrel start at 8AM. The PGT Tour will provide the professionals for each Pro-Am team. Soft spikes are mandatory for all amateurs.

The tournament proper is on July 4-7, 2018.

The tournament format will be stroke play with the best net score on each hole to count. Tees will be red for ladies, blue for gentlemen and Championship Tour tees for Professionals. Handicaps will be 24 for ladies and 18 for gentlemen.

Heading the list of professionals is hometown hero Frankie Miñoza who calls Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon home. Miñoza was Asia’s top golfer in 1991 and No. 1 in the Asian Tour Order of Merit, and still competes in the Japan Senior Tour and local events at 58. He is the only Filipino golfer to ever been invited to compete in the U.S. Masters in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones II, Pueblo Golf is the first and only world-class, all-weather championship golf course in the area.

The par 72 18-hole course has magnificent views of the mountains of Bukidnon with occasional glimpses of Macajalar Bay from the back nine holes.

The complex layout will challenge players of all skill levels. The 4th and 13th Holes are Pueblo’s signature holes, featuring daunting natural ravines.

Pueblo Golf is ranked one of the Top Five courses in the country by Golfing Philippines, the only course to garner such a ranking in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Being an all-weather golf course, it is playable the whole year round. It is also environmentally sound, featuring five inter-connected lakes from which recycled water is drawn to water the course – an effective means to conserve water.

Pueblo Golf has played host to a number of major tournaments such as the PAL Interclub, the Rotary International Foundation golf tournament, the Southern Ladies Club, and many others.

As the flagship circuit of the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., the Philippine Golf Tour holds at least 15 tournaments annually at various championship courses in the country, luring not only the rising stars and living legends of Philippine golf but also a slew of foreign players honing up their respective games for future cracks at the world ranking.

The birth of the region’s newest circuit – the PGT Asia – also means more and more opportunities for these rising and seasoned campaigners – locals and foreigners alike – which only guarantees exciting and thrilling battles for golf supremacy and Order of Merit honors.

In 2013, PGTI also launched the PGT’s counterpart, the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, which continues its steady rise to recognition with more foreign players joining, while linking up with the region’s leading circuits – the Taiwan and China LPGA.

The ICTSI Pueblo de Oro Championship is sponsored by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. With ICTSI as chief backer, the Philippines Golf Tour Inc. (PGTI) hopes to cash in on the gains it had in terms of boosting Philippine golf and providing Filipino pros a circuit that allows them to be substantially rewarded for their hard work and determination, and at the same time earn that chance to improve their play for overseas campaigns.

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