I played my very first Pro-Am!

I was so excited when I got an invitation to play in the Pro-Am tournament of the prestigious Mercedes Benz Masters Philippines 2010 at the Legends Course of the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club. This year's Mercedes-Benz tour would have a total prize money of $580,000.00  covering 10 tournaments.  Our Philippine favorite Angelo Que together with other admired players included Juvic Pagunsan, Artemio Murakami, Mars Pucay among others. 

I knew it was going to be a treat to be able to play with one of the regions's best pros! I had no idea who we were going to be paired with and to my delight it turned out to be Namchok Tantipokhakul of Thailand and winner of last year’s Mercedes-Benz Tour Order of Merit title. I was impressed and at the same time a little more nervous than usual to be playing in his flight. Namchok was a favorite last year when he finished number one with earnings of $27,540 from eight events of the tournament. With the little English he spoke and the handful of Thai words I knew which was limited to my favorite Thai foods and "thank you" (Tom Yum, Pad Thai and Khaawp khoon khrap) I managed to find out he was only 22 years old and had been in the Philippines several times over the years competing.

As last year's winner of the Order of Merit title, Namchok would be automatically included in the  Barclays Singapore Open later this year. This tournament carries a US$ 5 million prize money with players coming from the European and Asian tour.
The Pro-Am had several fun holes including the "Hole-In-One" challenge prize of a "30 day loaner" Mercedes-Benz E-Class E 300. Ok, you can't keep it forever.... but at least you get to drive in style for a month in a Mercedes Benz! 

It was a fun filled tournament even if our flight didn't win. The top prize went to our very own Angelo Que and the Southwoods team. I was only too happy to have been able to play my very first Pro-Am!