Loaded LPGT cast vies in Taiwan LPGA

All but one of the seven winners in this year’s 10-leg Ladies Philippine Golf Tour gear up for a highly charged duel with the best of the LPGA of Taiwan in the Party Golfers Ladies Open, which blasts off on Nov. 8 at the Lily Golf and Country Club in Guanxi Township in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Daniella Uy, who closed out the local tour season with a victory at Mimosa to emerge the winningest with three wins, banners the 16-player strong LPGT contingent in the NT$4 million championship spread over 54 holes on a course that poses a real challenge with its undulating terrain and sleek putting surface.

Uy, who also topped the LPGT stops at Forest Hills and Del Monte, tied for fourth when the Filipinas last competed in the Party Ladies Open in 2019, finishing three strokes behind winner Yu Ling Hsieh of Taiwan at the National Golf Country Club in Miaoli County.

But the LPGT stalwarts are keen on producing a breakthrough result coming off a series of tournaments at home, ready to pit skills and talent not only with the Taiwanese but also with aces from Thailand, Japan and Korea, among others.

Joining Uy in the roster are two-leg (Luisita and Villamor) winner Harmie Constantino, Bacolod leg titlist Chanelle Avaricio, Caliraya Springs champion Pauline del Rosario, Valley stop winner amateur Mafy Singson, and Florence Bisera, who reigned at the South Pacific Classic.

Avaricio and del Rosario are both expected to come into the event in fine form following stints on the Epson Tour with the duo also set to vie in Stage II of the LPGA Q-School on Oct. 17-20 in Florida.

Completing the LPGT list are Mikha Fortuna, Marvi Monsalve, Rev Alcantara, Sarah Ababa, Pamela Mariano and Chihiro Ikeda along with Koreans Seoyun Kim and Ju Young Yang and amateurs Laurea Duque and Lia Duque.

The event also firms up the LPGT-TLPGA partnership forged in 2015 through the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. when the ICTSI Ladies Open served as the fourth leg of the TLPGA circuit.

The two circuits had co-sanctioned a number of events since then and renewed their partnership after the pandemic when they co-staged the inaugural Anvaya Cove Ladies Invitational at Anvaya Cove Golf and Country Club in Morong, Bataan won by Bianca Pagdanganan last February.