Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines – Cebu Country Club finished second in the Founders Division of the Philippine Airlines Seniors Interclub, which closed yesterday at the Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club here.
Up by only a point going into the final round yesterday, Manila Golf Club managed to maintain that lead after all four scores were submitted to take the title for the Founders class, which is the second-ranked category.
The Championship division crown went to Canlubang, which once again dominated the field with a four-day effort of 620 points.
While the Championship battle seemed ho hum, the same could not be said of the Founders class.
Manila Golf’s OV Espiritu scored an eagle-aided 52 points in the Molave System to help his team win the title by a mere one point over the Cebuanos, 564-563..
Also counting for Manila Golf in the final round were Alex Prieto with 45 and Jaime Panganiban added 43 for their team’s total effort of 564 points. Each team has a total of eight players with four to play for each round and only the three best scores would count for the team total.
Cebu Country Club had Masatsugu Ochiai shooting 49 points while Clifford Celdran added 46 and Edito ‘Nonoy’ Tirol had 45. The fourth player for the last round was Shigeo Saito with 42. The other members of the team were Koichi Horii, Efren Sarmiento, Anton Florendo, and David Lu.
Baguio City’s Camp John Hay, which was tied with the Cebuanos for second after three round finished with a total of 561 points for third place.
Mactan Island Golf Club wound up tenth out of 20 teams in the Founder class. The team was led by Oscar Cornelio and Vidal Hebi yesterday with 41 points apiece. The last to count was Rolando Alberto with 37.
Mactan had a four-day total of 511 points.
CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION
Canlubang’s 28-point victory was a foregone conclusion that the usual gallery instead opted to watch the boxing bout between Filipino Nonito Donaire and Mexico’s Ferdinand Montiel, which had the Pinoy winning in two rounds.
Rolly Viray led the Sugar Barons with 55 points on the final round and he got support from Tommy Manotoc with even-par 54 points and Mari Hechanova with 51. The 50 of Philip Brodett did not count for the total.
The other members of the team were Dave Hernandez, Tony Olives, Bing Bunye, and Luigi Yulo.
Luisita finished a far second with 592 points while Alabang took third with 553 points.
Pueblo de Oro was fourth with 522 followed by Coral Ocean Point with 478, South Bay with 465, and Team Brookside with 444.
Alta Vista Golf and Country Club wound up on 8th place with 425 points on rounds of 137, 119, 137, and 132. Masahisa Kawakami led the team on the last round with 47 points while Victor Gocela made 45 and Ed Acain had 40.
Mercedes Plantation finished 15th in the field 22 teams with an aggregate of 366 points. Choie Ramos led the team yesterday with 40 points while Bugs Unchuan made 34 and Joe Rodriguez had 30.
SPORTSWRITERS DIVISION
Chamorro ruled this third-ranked category with a total of 485 points. Second place went to either Fil-Am Hawaii and Philippine Navy with 484 each.
The organizers decided on it priot to last night’s award rites at the Atrium in the Lim Ket Kai Center.
FRIENDSHIP DIVISION
Zamboanga won the title of this group with 459 points followed by Fil-Am SFO with 425 on second and third place went to Travelers with 402.
The seniors tournament is for players aged 55 years old and above.
This year’s competition is backed by platinum sponsors Boeing, Airbus, Radio Mindanao Network, Business Mirror and Interactive Broadcast Media (DWWW). Major sponsors are People Asia, 105.1 Crossover, GE Aviation, Asia Brewery Inc. and Traversing the Orient.
Also lending support are corporate sponsors Manila Bulletin and Bombo Radyo Philippines, while minor sponsors are Lufthansa Technik Philippines, MasterCard and Century Park Hotel. Prize donors include Panasonic Avionics and Tanduay.
More detailed information on the tournament is available on the dedicated PAL Interclub webpage at www.palinterclub.com. (FREEMAN)