BAGUIO – After a heart-stopping three-way playoff sparked the season and a dominant blowout defined the next, the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour braces for a chaotic collision of both worlds. The circuit’s third leg promises high drama, but past forms may mean very little as a compact, stellar field collides with the ultimate wild card – an unfamiliar, unpredictable and unforgiving Pinewoods layout.
The ICTSI Pinewoods Challenge blasts off Tuesday, June 30, featuring headliners Yvon Bisera and Harmie Constantino, both hungry to become the season’s first two-time winners.
Yet, standing in their way is a hungry pack of elites, including Princess Superal, Sarah Ababa, Chanelle Avaricio, Mafy Singson, Tiffany Lee and Daniella Uy – all determined to break into the winner’s circle in this early stretch of the 10-stage circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
Bisera outlasted Ababa and Lois Kaye Go in a dramatic sudden-death playoff to capture the season opener at Lakewood in Cabanatuan City last March. She, along with Uy, Avaricio and Singson, then took her sharp game to the China LPGA Tour with the Davaoeña ace nearly snatching a second overseas crown, falling just one stroke short at the Singapore Ladies Masters recently.
Constantino dominated the tour with four victories en route to the Order of Merit (OOM) title in 2024, only to suffer a frustrating, winless downswing last season that tested both her swing and her psyche.
An army of proven champions is ready to exploit any misstep by the leaders, headed by Princess Superal, who is back from a competitive stint on the Japan Step Up Tour, eager to re-establish her dominance on local soil.
Lee, who burst onto the LPGT scene by winning the Lakewood Championship as a junior in 2024 before marking her pro debut with a victory at Splendido Taal, endured a dip in form over the past several months. But after putting in the hard work to rebuild her game, she’s eager to show the results this week.
Ababa, the reigning OOM champion, is out to assert her supremacy after a heartbreaking playoff loss and a fourth-place finish in the first two legs, while Singson is hunting for a massive rebound after falling well short of Constantino at Caliraya.
With dangerous threats like Uy, Avaricio and Lee, alongside veterans and rising stars Marvi Monsalve, Seoyun Kim, Chihiro Ikeda, Martina Miñoza and Pamela Mariano, the battle for the crown is entirely up for grabs.
Add in a highly motivated spoiler crew looking to stir up trouble, including Kayla Nocum, Gretchen Villacencio, Kristine Fleetwood, Apple Fudolin, Velinda Castil, Rev Alcantara, Monica Mandario, Angela Mangana, Japanese standout Aina Onishi, and lone amateur Jules Gaerlan – and the race for history as the first-ever Pinewoods champion promises to be a riveting, edge-of-your-seat thriller from the very first drive to the last putt.
