BAGUIO CITY – Some 1,300 amateur golfers comprising 245 teams will be joining the 67th San Miguel Fil-Am invitational golf tournament from November 24 to December 10 at the Baguio Country club (BCC) and Camp John Hay (CJH) fairways here.
Tim Allen, the manager of the CJH Golf club, said the participating golfers and teams this year will be the biggest in the history of the longest running golf tournament in the world, thus, the competitions are expected to get tougher with the caliber of the golfers joining the competition.
Last year, there were 226 teams from the Asia Pacific region that joined the 2-week tournament right in the two compact courses.
“Our golf courses are ready in time for the upcoming exciting competitions among our golfers from different parts of the world. We are on the verge of completing the necessary improvements and maintenance of our fairways in time for the influx of golfers,” Allen stressed.
Andrew Pinero, BCC customer services department manager, said attractive prizes await the golfers who will make a hole-in-one in the designated holes of both courses while more raffle prizes will be given to the players during the welcome cocktails in the BCC and CJH playing venues.
He explained that the Fil-Am Golf Foundation will continue to extend assistance to the calamity survivors of Supertyphoon Lawin in the different parts of Northern Luzon as part of its commitment to extend outreach programs beneficial to the lives of people in the countryside considering that it is part of the foundation’s corporate social responsibility to help those who are in need.
He explained the potential donations to the Lawin survivors will not only come from the foundation but also from the players themselves because there are some teams who take the initiative to generate resources for the survivors.
The seniors’ division of the tournament will be held from November 23 to December 1 while the regular division will be done from December 3 to 10. Practice rounds for the seniors’ division will start on November 21 while practice rounds for participants to the regular division will start on December 1.
The Fil-Am golf invitational tournament has been included in the Guinness Book of world Records as the longest running amateur golf tournament in the world.
On the other hand, the Fil-Am Golf Foundation is the social arm of the tournament in charge of implementing its corporate social responsibility projects and the development of junior golfers among interested youth coming from all walks of life not only in the city but also those who come from outside the region.
Organizers of the tournament expressed their gratitude to the golfers for their sustained participation in the annual tournament that continues to attract more golfers from different parts of the world to play and enjoy the city’s cool and romantic weather.