Ikeda, Unson to vie for third title in Thailand

Filipina amateurs Chihiro Ikeda and Andrea Unson will bid for their respective third title wins in when they compete in the 21st Thailand Ladies Amateur Open Golf and Inter-Club Championships at the Bangkok Golf Club on March 20 in Thailand. Ikeda and Unson has each won twice in the season. Ikeda is also coming off a good showing in the 33rd Queen Sirkit Cup where she joined Dottie Ardina, Jayvie Agojo and Lovelyn Guioguio in powering the country to a runner-up finish behind the mighty South Koreans. The Filipina-Japanese already has the Philippine Ladies Amateur Open and the Southern Ladies Championship tucked under her belt. A titile abroad will cap a good run for her in the first quarter of 2011. "I'm fine with my game, just a little tuning up will do," said Ikeda, who finished tied for 15th in the individual race in the Queen Sirkit Cup. Unson, Ikeda's teammate in the ICTSI camp, is also red-hot at the moment, counting her hard-earned individual crown in the just-concluded The Montecillo Cup Junior Golf Championship at the Mount Malarayat. Aside from that, Unson, an awardee by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA), plus Sarah Jane Ababa and petite Irina Gabasa towed the PHL Team I to the tiara in the girls' division. The early successes of the country's top female amateurs are signs of progress for national coach Bong Lopez, who, with the National Golf Association the Philippines (NGAP), will select the members of the Philippine team for the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia in November. "It is a 'good' problem. It means that I will have choices when the selection time comes. For now, I'll continue with the effective golf program," said Lopez. who guided Ikeda, Ardina and Mia Piccio to the team gold in the 2009 Laos SEA Games. Joining Ikeda and Unson in the roster to Thailand are Agojo, Guioguio, junior golfer Daniella Uy and Ardina, the individual medalist in the Queen Sirikit - her first taste of success in months. Ardina is an underdog but if her her game in the Queen Sirikit Cup is to be the gauge, she is bound to rebound from mediocre performances in the past. She shot an under-par in three rounds in the Queen Sirikit Cup, played in New Delhi, India. – Adrian Flores, JVP, GMA News