De Vera, Bautista rally to capture Sta. Elena Cup

Fred de Vera and guest partner Jimmy Bautista made a big charge from six points down in the final round to capture the Sta. Elena Cup even as Angelo Que edged bossom buddy Cookie LaO in the countback for the low gross award.

Playing in the Class C division, De Vera and Bautista mastered the sleek greens of the Sta. Elena course with a combined 83-point effort in their second round to win the top plum pulling away by four strokes with a 156 total.

The solid comeback of the winning pair denied halfway leader Alex Yaptangco and Ramon Veloso a wire-to-wire win as they managed only 73 in the final round for 152.

Que, fresh off his Philippine Open low amateur conquest, matched the 143 of LaO then banked on his eight birdies to emerge as the low gross winner of the event given strong backing by world cellular phone leader Nokia, International Container Terminal Services Inc., Adidas Taylor Made, Royal Caribbean Cruise and Northwest Airlines.

Benedict Loa bagged the low net plum with his 90 points while the low gross team title went to former club champion Iggy Clavecilla and Mari Hechanova. The division winners were Peter Chan and Dick Tan Yu in Class A, Fely Lopez and Jan Golez in Class B and Suzing Pineda and Enzo Martinez in Class C.

Chan and Tan’s net Albatross won them the title after a countback with the pair of Loa and his partner Augusto Navarro. They had similar 151s after two days.

Lopez and Golez tallied a 147 to win by two over the all-female partnership of Ahbee Tayao and Beachie Abiera while Pineda and Martinez also prevailed by two points over Angie Co and Rommel Martinez with their 146.