Garcia cops seniors title by 14 strokes

Having all the time to go back to the fairways after his stint as a national sports official, Richie Garcia celebrated his return to competitive action by winning the Philipine Amateur Seniors Open championship yesterday in runaway fashion.

Garcia, whose playing days were severely cut due to his work as Philippine Sports commissioner, completed a 14-stroke victory with a closing two-over-par 74 at the Couples course of the Riviera Golf and Country Club in Silang, Cavite.

Starting the day 10 strokes ahead of defending champion Caloy Coscolluela, Garcia kept his focus to post one of the biggest winning margins in the event with a 220 aggregate capped by a three-under-par 69 in the second round.

Coscolluela, who led Garcia by two in the first round, settled for runner-up honors with a 234 after 78 while club president Danny Pizarro finished third at 237 after a 78 in the tourney jointly staged by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and the Federation of Philippine Senior Golfers, Inc.

The 54—hole tourney is sponsored by Taylor Made Adidas, Pan West, Pagcor, Pfizer, DHL/WWW Express and Masters Sports/Mizuno. Toyota Altis was at stake as hole-in-one prize for three days courtesy of Toyota Motors Philippines, Inc.

In the 36-hole competitions, Andy CO topped the gross play in Division II by five strokes over Norton Gonzales. Net champion was Egmidio Sanchez who won by one over Roger Urbanes.

In Division III, Horacio Aycardo and Hector Samonte finished 1-2 in net play while Alfonso Mesina finished five strokes ahead over Marcelo Alfonso in the gross battle.

The Super Senior 1 winners were Rod Pepito (net) and Tony Katigbak (gross) while Enrique Beech (net) and John Camping (gross) wound up ahead of their rivals in the Super Senior II.