Due to the large number of participants, the country’s young golfers from different clubs were divided to two groups as they take the stage in this year’s edition of the Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines (JGFP) Inter-Club competition set this month.

The groups were split to Developmental division, which attracted 80 players currently playing at Sherwood Hills Golf and Country Club in Trece Martires, Cavite (May 9 to 11), while the Championship division is set May 22 to 24 at Mimosa Plus Golf Course in Pampanga.

“We have so many players that’s why we, at the JGFP, have opted to do two competitions, first is the Developmental and it will be followed by the Championship and we are thankful to both Sherwood and Mimosa,” said JGFP president Oliver Gan, a former junior golfer.

“The JGFP is very thankful to both Sherwood general manager Jerome Baldoz and Mimosa golf director Rory for their support in the development of our young golfers,” added Gan, a former program officer for the national capital region of the Philippine Sports Institute (PSI), which is under the PSC.

Both the Developmental category and the Championship event, which will gather some 140 participants, will have golfers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao regions – making it the biggest Inter-Club meet for young golfers. The event is backed by Malayan Insurance for the Developmental division and Superkit Super Junior Cubs for the Championship division.

A total of 23 teams, including entries from Visayas and Mindanao, are playing at Sherwood.

The three-day team event is divided into two divisions, the 13-18 and 12-and-under using the modified Stableford scoring system.

Looming as the team to beat in the 13-18 bracket is the Immaculate Conception Academy (ICA) Team 1 composed of Chloe Ang, Chloe Lim, Lavigne Yu, and Alaine Yu, while the other teams in the 13-18 field are Apo Golf, Wack Wack, ICA Team 2, Cebu Country Club Team 2, Baguio Country Club Team 1, Manila, and Alabang.

In the 12-and-under category, two Navy teams are expected to fight it out with Alabang Team 1 for the crown. Navy Team 1 is composed of Winter Serapio, Phil Galvez, Monte Andaman, and Zachary Baun while Navy Team 2 is made up of Venus delos Santos, Cole Galvez, Franco Estrella, and Andrei Victoria.

Alabang Team 1 is led by Makayla Verano with support coming from Shantelle Laurel, Rosie Reyes, and Ariana Villarosa. The other squads entered are ICA Team 1, ICA Team 2, Alabang Team 2, AJS, Cebu Team 1, Cebu Country Club Team 3, CCC Team 5, BCC Team 2, Xavier Team 1, and Xavier Team 2.

Each player is allowed to field four players but only the top three scores count.

As for the Championship category, expected to see action are clubs from Del Monte, Cebu Country Club, Apo, Riviera, Valley, Xavier, Pueblo, ICA, Navy, Alabang and the team of Lue de Guzman.

Some of the players expected to see action in the Inter-Club are some of the top young guns of local golf, including Lucas de Guzman, Armand Copok, Ralph Batican, Ally Gaccion, Joy Tabanas, Apple Gotiong, Grace Quintanilla, Jacob Cajita, Tashi Balanguan, LL Go, Brie Macasaet, Halo Pangilinan, Zoji Edoc, Tof-Tof Nadales, Geoffrey Tan, Aerin Chan, Mico Ungco, Seth Koa, Saki Co, Anna Kei Fernandez, Andrea Dee, Inigo Composano, Skippy See, Erika Tan, Chloe Ang, Chloe Lim, Kiara Uy, and the Gaisano-Gan sisters Nicole and Stephanie.