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Jennifer passes up World Cup stint(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)JENNIFER ROSALES IS PASSING UP THE chance to represent the country in the Ladies World Cup of Golf. And a lot of people are asking why. While Swede superstar Annika Sorenstam and American hotshot Paula Creamer are heading to Sun City, South Africa, to play for their respective flags in the Jan. 20-22 event, J-Ro has given up her slot and opted to focus on her training in Manila for the coming LPGA season. The World Cup will be played at the Gary Player Country Club course, also the venue of the Million Dollar Golf Challenge. The original Philippine team was made up of Rosales and Ana Larraneta, a European Tour player born to a Spanish father and a Filipino mom. But when Rosales begged off, Larraneta also waived her slot. The official World Cup website, though, still lists the Rosales-Larraneta pair as RP entries. The country's bid in the event that offers $1 million will now be carried by Dorothy Delasin and Ria Denise Quiazon, who are both Fil-Ams. Delasin is an LPGA Tour regular while Quiazon plays on satelllite events in the US. Delasin and Rosales almost won the inaugural World Cup last year, also in South Africa, losing by two strokes to eventual champion Japan. The second place tie with Korea equalled the best performance by an RP duo in the World Cup, 18 years after Ben Arda and Rudy Labares finished second in the men's World Cup at Wack Wack. Delasin and Rosales each went home with P3.5 million for the runner-up finish. Rosales' mother, Lourdes, told the Inquirer that Jennifer finds the long trip to South Africa "physically taxing." She said her daughter is busy preparing for her defense of the SBS Open, the opening leg of the LPGA Tour, on Feb. 16-18. "Jenny wants to be well-prepared for the SBS," Ms Rosales said. Jennifer is now in training at the Manila Southwoods with her swing coach Bong Lopez. |