Cebu Country Club runs 2nd in Founders Division

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Cebu Country Club will get a chance to defend its Founders division title in the 63rd Philippine Airlines Interclub after all as the team, which was earlier classified under the premiere Championship class has been reverted back to its old group.

This as the organizers found out that there was a mistake in the computation of the PAL Points Average (PPA) of the team.

Although still playing alongside the teams of the Championship class at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club, CCC managed to post 117 points to stay two strokes behind powerhouse Sta. Elena and tied for second spot with Del Monte.

Rookie LJ Go, led Cebu’s charge yesterday with four-over-par 32 points showing nerves of steel despite being only 15 years old.

Jovi Neri fired 30 points while his cousin Bayani Garcia added 29 and Chuckie Hong made 26 to count for the team total in this five-to-play, four-to-count format. The 23 of Mark Dy did not count.

Team captain Ramontito Garcia said that he hopes they would defend their title well. The team will still be grouped with the teams of the Championship class today, but will join the rest of the Founders division teams on the third day.

The teams in the Founders class played at the Bacolod Golf and Country Club in the town of Murcia.

Garcia said that he would be fielding 14-year-old Gio Gandionco, Marko Sarmiento, Jojo Tiongko, Carl almario, and himself today. Wack-Wack is five points off the pace with a total of 114 points.

Mactan Island Golf Club turned in a total of 103 points yesterday behind a huge effort by Hubert Calan, who fired 31 points. The others who counted for the team total were Jufil Sato 25, Fernando Mondares 25, and Bart Vergara 22. Hiro Hasegawa shot 21 and did not count.

The team will be fielding Andrew Cañete, Jose Mari Dizon, Renato Aquino, Junjun Cabajar, and Ronnie Sarigumba today at the NOGCC.

A still shocked Alta Vista team, which was expecting to be in the Sportswriters class, struggled with a total of 87 points yesterday with Gabriel Yap, Jr. leading the team with 26 points. Also counting for the team total were Alex Yeo 25, Ed Acain 19, and Wendel Yap 17. Kim Kwang Seok appeared lost amidst the swirling winds and extremely dry fairways as he shot only 11 points and did not count.

The same team will be fielded today by skipper Victor Gocela at the NOGCC.

Championship

In the premiere class, Canlubang coasted to 137 points yesterday with Albin Engino as the driving force scoring one-under-par 37 points. Also counting for the total were Mark Fernando 36, Jobim Carlos 32, and Paul Echavez 32.

At second spot is The Country Club with 134 points. Those who counted were JR Tanpingco with 35, Peter Villaver 34, Rufino Bayron 34, and Alexis Nallos 31.

Alabang is a far third with 107.

Sportswriters

Tagaytay Highlands leads this third-ranked category with 107 points followed by Pueblo de Oro with 103 and Philippine Navy and Palos Verdes with 101 apiece. Iloilo is a point back with 100 while Iligan and Manila Golf are also within striking distance with 97.

Club Filipino scored 93 points yesterday despite fielding only four men. Raymund Garcia led the team with 29 points followed by Razy Razon with 25, Evans Tumaliwan 24 and team captain Boboy Durano had 15.

The event is presented by platinum sponsors Airbus, Boeing, 105.1 Crossover and Radio Mindanao Network.  Major sponsors are Action Asia, GE Aviation, MTV Philippines, People Asia and Royal Caribbean.

The corporate backers are Business Mirror, Philippine Graphic, www.philstar.com, Sabre Airline Solutions/Sabre Travel Network and Resort World Manila.  Century Park Hotel, DWWW 774 AM, Panay News, Master Card and Thales Aerospace are minor patrons. -  THE FREEMAN