Que-Pucay tandem to face world's best in Mission Hills

Filipinos from different fields—Manny Pacquiao in boxing, Efren Peñaflorida in education and Brilliante Mendoza in film-making—have done the Philippines’ proud in the last two weeks. Golfers Angelo Que and Mars Pucay are seeking to give their countrymen something to cheer for again when they battle the world’s best two-man teams in the Omega Mission World Cup, which fires off Thursday at the Mission Hill’s renowned Olazabal Course in Dongguan, China. The 2009 Omega Misssion Hills World Cup, the Asian Tour’s second to the last tournament, will feature 28 nations vying for the US$5.5 million total prize money. Eighteen of these two-man teams were selected based on the Official World Golf Ranking and another nine advanced through regional qualifiers.

Que, the 2008 Philippine Open winner and two-time Asian Tour winner, and Pucay got in the US$5.5 million event after earning one of the three coveted spots in the August qualifiers. While golf may not command a huge following like how boxing or basketball does in our sports-crazy country, Que knows that it can all change if they play true to form and create an impact this week. “I don’t think anybody can match Pacquiao’s achievements right now especially when it comes to representing the country. He’s the number one athlete and he’s doing a great job. However, if we win that’ll be great as we can lift golf up to another level," said Que. “Hopefully we can do better. We finished tied in 10th last year and we are happy to be able to represent our country one more time. Mars’s in good form and I’ve been hitting the ball quite good so hopefully we can help each other out this week," said Que, who is in 21st on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Pucay has two top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour this season and is looking forward to renew his partnership with Que. “We hope to play well again this year by using the same strategy as we did last year. We’ve a good understanding about each other game and we should be in for a good week if we play well," he said. Other nations amongst the favorites to take the Omega Mission Hills World Cup are Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, England’s Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher, the Australian duo of Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby, Denmark’s Søren Hansen and Søren Kjeldsen, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka, the US team of Nick Watney and John Merrick and the South African pairing of Rory Sabbatini and Richard Sterne. - Adrian Flores, GMANews.TV