Murakami shoots for win No. 2 in Asian Development Tour

Artemio Murakami goes for his second win in the Asian Development Tour (ADT) starting Wednesday when he leads an elite Filipino cast in the $65,000 ICTSI-Aboitiz Invitational at the Cebu Country Club. Murakami, who has won an ADT event last year and third in the current Order of Merit (OOM), is expected to be at the forefront of the Aboitiz leg, the seventh in the Asian Tour's 2011 circuit. He also expressed joy in the ADT and Asian Tour's effort to present a wonderful opportunity for budding Filipino golfers to compete in an international setting such as the Aboitiz Invitational. "I am very much looking forward to the Aboitiz Invitational as it will allow the local stars to compete against many of the leading players from the ADT, Murakami said. He noted that the competition in the ADT is very demanding as the winning scores are often very low. "We will need to consistently shoot low scores to compete on the ADT." Juvic Pagunsan, the Philippine Golf Tour's (PGT) current OOM leader and an Asian Tour winner, is a marked man along with Antonio Lascuna, Angelo Que and teenager Miguel Tabuena. In the foreign side, the top caliber players from the ADT Order of Merit—leader Chiang Chen-chih and Kao Shang-hung of Chinese Taipei, and American Jonathan Moore will also compete. The Aboitiz Invitational is staged in partnership with the PGT. The ADT was launched last year to create a career pathway for emerging players onto the established Asian Tour. The top three players from the ADT Order of Merit will gain Asian Tour cards for 2012. — Adrian Flores/JVP, GMA News