THE ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour becomes bigger with 17 stages slated for this year, starting with a brand-new leg at the Splendido Taal Golf and Country Club in Tagaytay next week.
Four other new events have been lined for another busy season for the pros while a novel North vs South duel, which pits the leading players from Luzon against those from the Visayas and Mindanao in a Ryder Cup-style format, spices up this year’s tour in May at the Alabang Country Club.
While majority will be 54-hole tournaments, two have been set as 72-hole events and two others to be sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour in recognition of the circuit’s growing reputation in the region.
The ICTSI Splendido is set March 28 to 30 with John Hay Golf Club hosting the second leg—the ICTSI Camp John Hay Classic— on April 18 to 20 and Sherwood Hills to stage the third leg on April 25 to 28 and a 72-hole event, the same as the ICTSI Manila Southwoods, on June 27 to 30.
Eagle Ridge will also provide a different kind of challenge for the touring pros when it hosts a leg for the first time on May 23 to 25 for the ICTSI Eagle Ridge Invitational before Alabang holds the North vs South duel on May 28 to June 1 for the sixth leg.
The ICTSI Eastridge Classic will host the next stage on June 6 to 8 at Eastridge in Binangonan followed by the ICTSI Classic at Mt. Malarayat in Lipa, Batangas on June 20 to 22, the ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic on July 18 to 20 and the ICTSI Iloilo Golf Challenge on July 25 to 27.
Cebu gets its shot at hosting a leg for the third year in a row with the Aboitiz Invitational, which has been set for September. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio