SAN MIGUEL Corp. (SMC) has ventured from a successful basketball program to the greens with SMC’s top honcho Ramon S. Ang (RSA) supporting the campaign of up-and-coming golfers Laurea and Lia Duque.
Laurea, 18 is a member of the national pool for four years now and has represented the country in many junior and open amateur events, while Lia, 14, is an upcoming talent who has great potential to be one of the better golfers in the country.
The Duque sisters recently paid RSA a courtesy call at the SMC headquarters at the Ortigas Center recently.
The Duque sisters are the main draw of Team SMC in golf. They are the only golfers fully supported by the conglomerate.
SMC’s support covers everything local and overseas tournaments, equipment, apparel, uniform and gear, as well as all coaching from swing to putting and short game to strength and conditioning.
SMC will send Laurea to Thailand for at least two weeks every month to train under coach Kris Assawaniporn, who is credited for producing current world No. 3 Atthaya “Jeeno” Thitikul.
She had a chance to train with Thitikul in her trip to Bangkok last month.
Lia, on the other hand, will kick off her Thailand training in 2023.
SMC hopes that the sisters will benefit from the world-class training that will translate to a vast improvements in their games and further result to good performances and even wins in major international competition.
Their last US summer tour funded by SMC and BMW Philippines, an RSA company, resulted to a number of modest finishes for the sisters in Northern California Laurea highlighted with a victory at the San Francisco Junior Championships, one of the oldest junior events in the US.
It was an auspicious start for her as the event has been won by a number of future big names in the sport, including former Ladies Professional Golfers Association winner, Filipino American golfer Dorothy Delasin.
RSA and SMC’s basketball teams—San Miguel Beer, Magnolia and Ginebra San Miguel—are among the greatest teams in the Philippine Basketball Association.