Six PHL ladies compete in US women's amateur golf tilt

The ICTSI-Philippine team will feature six players—the most qualifiers the country has ever had—all of whom will try to end an 11-year title drought in the USGA-sanctioned US Women’s Amateur Championship starting Tuesday (Monday in the US) in Barrington, Rhode Island. Jayvie Agojo and Andrea Unson, the top qualifiers in Denver and California in the US, with Chihiro Ikeda, Sarah Jane Ababa, Cyna Marie Rodriguez plus early seed Dottie Ardina headline the PHL cast, which will be mentored by national coach Bong Lopez. Set at the Rhode Island Country Club’s tricky par-71 course, the Filipina amateurs are aiming to reclaim the US Women’s Amateur crown last won by Dorothy Delasin, who is now strutting her wares in the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA). The tournament proper starts with a two-day stroke play competition. The top 64 from there will march on to the match play phase. “The girls are well rested and raring to go. The mission is clear to them and anybody in the squad is much capable of being the next champion," Lopez said. Lopez and his crack crew have already the tested Rhode Island layout in a light practices since Saturday. And the strategy to victory? “Driving the ball well is the key for our girls," Lopez also said. “The course is setup like the US Open, where the rough areas are very long and thick. They must put their ball in the fairway to have any chance of reaching the green in regulation. The greens are small but are relatively flat, only five holes have greens that are undulating and very fast," he also said.—OMG, GMA News