Philippines’ Bianca Pagdanganan watches her drive from the first tee in round 3 of the ladiess golf individual stroke play through the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe on August 6, 2021. (Photo by YOSHI IWAMOTO / AFP)
After a busy two years where it managed to reawaken its programs and activities, the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) is now readying its resources to support the bids of Bianca Pagdanganan and Miguel Tabuena for tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Pagdanganan and Tabuena have been the highest Filipino golfers of their divisions and the country’s brightest prospects for the Summer Games to be held within the glamorous French capital.
“The NGAP will likely be closely monitoring the performance of elite talents like Bianca Pagdanganan and Miguel Tabuena to make sure that they are going to enjoy the very best possible support on their option to a possible stint in Paris,” the national federation said in a press release forward to media offices on Wednesday.
The NGAP has supercharged its postpandemic calendar during the last 26 months, bringing back to the country two major events—the APGC Junior Championships and the Nomura Cup. It also helped the country host the Queen Sirikit Cup, pooling together the very best amateur golfers within the region.
Flexing muscles
“The success of those events were the fruits of our collaboration with external and internal partners that are so crucial in moving forward with our goals,” said NGAP president Martin Lorenzo.
Japan and Korea, traditional Asian golf powers, flexed their muscles within the Nomura and Queen Sirikit Cups, which were played at Manila Southwoods. Chinese-Taipei, meanwhile, ruled the girls and boys divisions of the AGPC Juniors. Those events exposed the country’s aces to tough foreign competition, an experience that may only help improve their skills.
Lorenzo said the following step is to maintain the stable of Filipino aces competitive now that tournaments that had been shelved by the pandemic are beginning to return to their regular spots within the golfing calendar.
In accordance with the media release, the duty of ensuring that challenge is met falls on recent national team coach Abe Rosal, “who’s supervising the progress of the national training pool along with Boyet Zaragosa.”
