Jaden Dumdumaya and Enrique Dimayuga have signed up for the National Stroke Play Championships, making the tournament one of the strongest events in recent years.
The 72-hole event is set for 3-6 January at the Langer course of the Riviera Golf Club in Silang, Cavite.
Dumdumaya, the 16-year-old Filipino-American sensation, has been invited by the National Golf Association of the Philippines to vie for a spot on the national team for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games set in Cambodia.
The NGAP has designated the National Stroke Play as a SEAG qualifying event.
Dimayuga, the 21-year-old University of Arkansas standout, is in the country for a short vacation.
After playing a friendly round with Carl Corpus of the San Jose State University and Aidric Chan of the University of Arizona at Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club, Dimayuga decided to join the Riviera tournament.
“They are really great guys! I really enjoyed my time. Looking forward to playing alongside them in the future,” said the Filipino-Briton who grew up in Surrey, England.
Dimayuga is set to join Corpus and Chan on 2 January for a practice round at Riviera.
Meanwhile, Dumdumaya started sampling the difficult course on Thursday after flying in with father Stan.
Jenny, Dumdumaya’s mother, said her son is grateful for the opportunity.
She said the NGAP invited her son as early as October for the Asia-Pacific qualifier, “but it was too much for Jaden to miss school.”
Dumdumaya, a junior at De la Salle High School in Concorde, California, has committed verbally to the University of Southern California, the same school where Brianna Navarrosa, another Fil-Am, is playing for.
It will be Dumdumaya’s third trip to the country, his previous one as a 12-year-old playing for PAR 2000 team in the Philippine Airlines Interclub golf team championships.
Dumdumaya was named Player of the Year by the Junior Tour of Northern California in 2021 and placed second the following year.
Last April, he captured the boys’ 14-15 age-group division in the National Drive, Chip, and Putt competition at Augusta, Georgia home of The Masters.
