Orchard’s Palmer course opens

The newly-renovated Palmer course of the Orchard Golf and Country Club in Dasmariñas, Cavite will be formally opened for play as the venue for the sixth Founder’s Cup, the club’s annual member-guest invitational on Nov. 23-24.

The Palmer course was recently re-greened to the TifEagle breed with major re-shaping of some greens and members and their invited guests will get to finally play it during the club’s biggest tournament for the year.

Luis Villa-Abrille, chairman of the 2002 Founders Cup organizing committee, announced that registration for the event was closed as early as two weeks ago, indicating the kind of excitement the new-look course has generated.

Generous sponsors, according to Villa-Abrille, are supporting the tourney. The major sponsors are Nissan Commonwealth, TaylorMade adidas and Cebu Pacific Air. Minor sponsors are Exotic Gardens, The Turf Co., Clark Parnham Mfg., Globe Telecoms, Aero Plus Multi-Services and Emeritus Security and Maintenance System.

Nissan Commonwealth is providing the prize for a hole-in-one on all par-3s of both courses except for Palmer No. 12 which is sponsored by CICI General Insurance.

Teams will play one round each on the Palmer course as well as the adjoining Player layout of the same club that hosted the 1995 Johnnie Walker Classic.

The event will have separate raffles for tournament and the membership. The club had sent out a maximum of 5,000 tickets at P1,500 for the membership raffle where brand new cars, appliances and many more will be at stake.

The pair with the highest number of points using the Modified Stableford System will be declared the overall champion. There will be a separate award for the low gross competition.

Prizes will also be awarded to the top two finishers in the four other handicap divisions, Class A, B, C and D.