4th Cheling Garcia Golfest: Deen, Sebastian win top honors

Eric Deen and Ramon Sebastian were the biggest winners Saturday in the 4th Cheling Garcia Cup and August Monthly Medal Tournament at the Cebu Country Club.

Deen fired the tournament’s lowest gross score as he carded a three-under-par 69 that was capped by an eagle 3 on the par-5 hole number 16.

Sebastian ruled class A with a net score of 64 strokes, the best in the tournament. He fired a gross score of 73 strokes as he made birdies on the par-5 7th and the par-4 12th while spraying bogeys on the 3rd, 8th, and 17th. Sebastian plays with a handicap of 9 strokes.

Runner-up honors for the premiere handicap category went to Jonjie Chiongbian with a net score of 67 strokes off a gross score of 76.

Banker Prudgie Gesta won the class B plum with a net score of 66 strokes off a gross 81.

First runner-up honors for class B went to Frederic Chiongbian who carded a net score of 67 then pulled past Jiji Gullas, Jude Cimafranca and Maning Granada in the countback.

Bernard Loh won class C with a net score of 65 while Masao Koike finished as runner-up with a net score of 67 and edging Lau Rogero in the countback.

Haruhiko Nagsaka won the class diadem with a net score of 66 while runner-up honors went to Jun Manglapus with a net score of 68.

Rogero, who almost made it to the top two in class C, instead won the seniors’ division crown for players aged 670 years old and above. Runner-up honors went to Granada, who again lost in the countback.

Philippine Sports Commissioner Ritchie Garcia, a frequent visitor to Cebu, won the guest division title scoring a net 73 in the Blind Callaway format. Garcia scored a gross 75.

Runner-up honors went to Dino Yap, who scored a net 74 off a gross 76 edging Toby Florendo and Tommy Tabanas in the countback.

Marko Sarmiento, a grandson of Cheling Garcia, won a prize for the longest drive on hole number 11.

Special prizes were also awarded four players for nearest the pin on all par-3 holes. The winners were Takaharu Imai for the 3rd, Tommy Tabanas for the 5th, Tadashi Muramoto for the 13th, and Jaime Antunez for the 15th.

Members of the Garcia family were on hand for the awards ceremony.