MANILA, Philippines – The Langer layout at The Riviera in Silang, Cavite, will be tough as nails to conquer come April 12 in the 2011 Philippine Amateur Championship Open with defending champion Clyde Mondilla saying that anything near level par for 72 holes enough to win.

Mondilla, who will banner the local challenge in the tournament that features crack entries from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, sampled the rolling layout and struggled with its sleek greens, length and the wind that blows hard there at this time of year.

“I would say that shooting a 75 would be a challenge,” Mondilla said of the course that hosted a couple of Philippine Opens in the past, with the one that Gerald Rosales won yielding an overall winning score of close to 300 for four rounds.

The greens will be fast and the length will be adjusted to international standards so that the layout will be fair, but challenging, according to the organizing National Golf Association of the Philippines.

Mondilla won this event at the expense of now-pro Miguel Tabuena at Del Monte last year and the 17-year-old native of Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon will try to become this tournament’s first back-to-back winner in decades.

Jobim Carlos, the individual championship winner in the recent Montecillo International championship, is also in the field and together with Mondilla, will make up the Philippines’ 1-2 punch.

Irina Gabasa, the pint-sized wonder from Cebu, meanwhile, will banner the Philippine charge in the women’s side of the event that will also have entries from those three foreign countries and several more from Indonesia.

Gabasa is the defending women’s champion and she will have a talented pool to contend with as the ICTSI stable headed by Dottie Ardina and former Philippine Ladies winner Chihiro Ikeda are all expected to sign up.