SOUTHEAST Asian Games-bound Lois Kaye Go hopes to pick up from where national teammate Rianne Malixi left off as she joins the title hunt in the ICTSI Hallow Ridge Challenge, which tees off today at the Filipinas Golf Hallow Ridge in San Pedro, Laguna.
The Cebuana ace, who beat now LPGA Tour campaigners Bianca Pagdangangan and Thai sensation Atthaya Thitikul in the 2019 Philippine Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Riviera’s Langer course, spices up the cast as she tests her skills against the country’s leading pros as part of her buildup for next month’s SEA Games where she, Malixi and Mafy Singson will spearhead the country’s title-retention drive both in team play and individual competition.
Pagdanganan, Go and Abby Arevalo captured the team championship in the 2019 SEA Games at Luisita, with the power-hitting Pagdanganan adding the individual gold.
Go, 22, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Carolina last year where she finished with a double major in finance and accounting, will be donning the national colors for the last time in Hanoi before finally launching her pro career.
Go will lead a four-player amateur challenge that includes Arnie Taguines, Eagle Ace Superal and Kristine Fleetwood, all seeking to match Malixi’s successful title run in the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour at Midlands at the close of the 2021 season last December and at the ICTSI Luisita Championship, which kicked off this year’s circuit in Tarlac two weeks ago.
They will face a fired-up pro crew out to reassert their might in the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., headed by fancied Princess Superal along with leg winners Sunshine Baraquiel, Chanelle Avaricio and Daniella Uy.
“Consistency will be key, along with ball control and ball placing,” said Superal, noting some of the layout’s tight holes and tough greens.
