Strange looking for Philippine double

Australian Scott Strange is eyeing a rare Philippine Open double next month when he defends the Asian Tour's 2007 season-opening event from January 11-14.

The talented Strange feels confident ahead of his title defence as he feels right at home at the fabled Wack Wack Golf and Country Club. "It's a nice place to go. You feel good and I feel comfortable being there," said Strange.

He will be amongst a strong line-up of Asian Tour stars who will kick off the 2007 season, which will include no fewer than a record 29 tournaments and an all-time high of US$26 million in total prize money.

Although Strange has won twice on the Asian Tour, this will be his first title defence as he did not have the opportunity to defend his Myanmar Open title won in 2004.

But with a string of players eager to have their names engraved on Asia’s oldest national Open trophy, a successful campaign will not come easy for Strange.

Home grown talents Angelo Que, Gerald Rosales, a former Open champion, and Cookie Lao will lead the local charge and challenge Strange.

"It was good to win the Philippine Open this year. I didn't think the golf course was playing as tough as the scores were made to be. When I was walking up the 14th, I was leading by seven shots and I kind of cruised home,” said Strange.

"It's a good feeling winning as you know that your game is moving along in the right direction. I've defended in a few events in Australia earlier this year and I finished second in one of those, where I got beaten by Peter Senior. I'm looking forward to going to Manila," said Strange.

He triumphed by five strokes at Wack Wack with a winning total of eight-under-par 280 with Korea's Park Jun-won settling for second place. After enjoying a strong rookie year, Park will be aiming to go one better.

Strange said accuracy is a premium at the tree-lined Wack Wack course. "You have to hit it in the right spots on the greens. If you get it into the wrong spot, you're in trouble. If you're pin high or long, you're in trouble. First, you have to think about getting the ball on the fairway. If you don't do that, you're always going to be struggling. That's the difficulty, putting the ball in position at Wack Wack," said Strange.

The Perth-based Australian enjoyed his best career season in Asia with one victory and four other top-10s and finished 14th on the 2006 Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit. He also contended in some of the biggest events in the region, most notably the Barclays Singapore Open where he was the joint halfway lead with South African star Ernie Els before a back injury put paid to his challenge where he eventually finished tied 12th.

He was also in contention at the New Zealand Open in December before settling for equal eighth place.

"I've progressed into the bigger tournaments and the next step is to get into contention in the big events. I've certainly enjoyed playing in Asia. In my first year out, it was like 'wow'. It was hard as the food and the culture was different.

"The next year up, it's been great. You learn about the different cities and you look forward to going to different cities like New Delhi, Bangkok, Manila and Doha. There is always something nice about a place," said Strange.

The last player to successfully defend the Philippine Open title was local hero Celestino Tugot, who won the Championship four years in a row from 1955 to 1958.

December 21, 2006

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