The best amateur golfers of the country will once again gather for a two-week period, this time in Davao City, for the 65th Philippine Airlines Interclub.
I am also heading to Davao even if I am not among the best amateur golfers of the country, but to chronicle their feats as a sportswriter covering the tournament. This will be my 19th straight year covering the event and if there is one thing I am looking forward to when I celebrate 20 years with the PAL Interclub next year is that it will be held in Cebu.
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Alta Vista Golf and Country Club, Cebu Country Club and Mactan Island Golf Club will be sending teams to both the seniors and the men’s events.
The seniors’ tournament starts this Thursday while the men’s event will open on the 22nd.
The seniors team of Alta Vista will be composed of skipper Antonio ‘Loloy’ Sabuga, Ed Acain, Victor Gocela, Akira Hatano, Masahisa Kawakami, Kim Kwang Seok, Hospicio ‘Razy’ Razon, and Ramon Sebastian.
The men’s team will be led by Gocela, who has been the captain for the past several years, and he will be joined by a good combination of veterans and junior golf standouts.
The other team members are Emir Abutazil, Sircross Abarintos, Dennis Canoy, Wei Wei Gao, Marvin Mendoza, David Park, Enrico Solon, Edsel Tan, and Gabriel Yap, Jr.
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Cebu Country Club’s senior team will be skippered by Ed Alegrado. He will be joined by Clifford Celdran, Anton Florendo, Montito Garcia, Ray Gibbs, Takehiko Horii, Masatsugu Ochiai, Shigeo Saito, and Edito Tirol. Efren Sarmiento and Lor Alaan are the alternates.
The men’s team will be skippered by Charlie Go. The team members are Carl Almario, Eric Deen, Mark Dy, Bayani Garcia, Montito Garcia, Gio Gandionco, Lloyd Jefferson Go, Jovi Neri, and Marko Sarmiento.
Gen Nagai, Kiddy Limchao, Jr. and Jon Joseph Alvarez are the alternates.
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Mactan’s senior team will be led by B. Gen Nestor Deona as team captain and will have Boy Alegre, Ed Franco, Hermes Tangaan, Roberto Balcos, Yoshio Yamane, Isao Suzuki, and Kim Jong Chul as players.
The men’s team is skippered by B. Gen. Raul Dimatatac with players Kim Agatep, Emmanuel Makalintal, Marlou Cugtas, Nilo Seno, Efren Gica, Jufil Sato, Avel de Manuel, Seo Hong Kil, and Freddie Salimbangon.
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Club Filipino Incorporada de Cebu is sending only a men’s team with Evans Tumaliwan, who I heard recently scored an ace, as the skipper.
The team members are Boboy Durano, Victor Yuvallos, Razy Razon, Tedd Almario, Kenneth Dyguani, Peter Militante, Jiji Gullas, Lito Barino, and Raymond Garcia.
The seniors’ event is for players aged 55 years old and above. Some players are seeing action in both categories.
Good luck to the Cebu teams. See you in Davao! By the way, I will also be carrying Cebu’s banner as our lone player in the media tournament.
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MILESTONES: Belated happy birthday greetings to one of my high school buddies, Dr. Renmar Natividad, who turned a year older yesterday.
Today’s greetings go to Cavalier Alex Espinosa, Malou Mozo, Yllana Flores, Arthur Cang, and Bernadette Beduya.
Advance greetings go to Brett Aleonar, Cesar Fernandez, Grace Acha, Ferdinand Enriquez, and Valerie Macapagal, who are celebrating tomorrow.
More power to all of you!