Confident Arbole seeks back-to-back titles in Iloilo

Art Arbole’s confidence is soaring after finally ending a 14-year title drought — and for a change, he knows he won’t be sneaking up on anybody.

The newly crowned ICTSI Negros Occidental Classic champion embraces the bullseye as the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) shifts to Iloilo, where he expects the Tour’s big guns, seasoned campaigners and emerging stars to come after him when the ICTSI Iloilo Golf Challenge gets going on 29 September at the Iloilo Golf and Country Club.

But Arbole says he is feeling more determined than nervous, buoyed by the belief that his breakthrough victory has finally erased the doubts that had lingered through years of near-misses.

“I’m still on Cloud 9. My confidence has gone up even more because before, I sort of had this fear that nothing would come out of my game,” said Arbole, who put together one of the most complete performances of his career in Negros.

The Del Monte native, now based in Canlubang, bucked the odds in dramatic fashion, overcoming a shaky stretch that saw him surrender a one-stroke lead and fall three shots behind former Order of Merit winner Jhonnel Ababa.

Instead of folding, Arbole responded with a birdie barrage from No. 9 that turned the tide and put him back in command. He then held off last year’s South Pacific leg winner Jeffren Lumbo in a thrilling stretch-run duel to claim his first PGT title.

The manner of the victory may have been as significant as the breakthrough itself.

Arbole’s driving was crisp, his iron play and woods were on point, and his putting held firm when the pressure mounted — all the pieces of his game finally clicking at the same time.

Now comes the harder part: proving it was no one-week flash of brilliance.

“Hopefully here in Iloilo, I can keep up the good performance,” he said.

That quest begins on a course that could demand an entirely different brand of golf.