Close shave for Korean expat in Orchard golfest

Korean expat Lee Ju Young survived a big rally by Quino Baterna to win the championship division by one stroke in the recent Christmas tournament of the Orchard Golf and Country Club.

Lee, a two-handicapper, had rounds of 74-79 with his 153 aggregate, just enough to give him a one-stroke win over Baterna who was four down after Round 1 but got three strokes on the Korean the next day with his 76.

Cynthia Antonio (66-80-146) was the runaway winner in the ladies division of the 18-hole tourney sponsored by GM Auto World through Atty. Boy Ocampo.

Ric Antonio had the toughest win in the seven-division competition, needing to beat Toti Gimenez in a countback after both finished with similar 138s in Class B.

The Class D winner, Danilo Marquez, finished 15 strokes ahead of Alexander Chu, Timmy Owyong beat Lee Young Bok by five in Class A, Oscar Patricio turned back Andy Vasquez by four in seniors play and Henry So prevailed by three over Mac Hermoso in Class C.

Club general manager Tom Clemente said that to make the event more competitive, they decided to use it as the qualifying phase of the club championships as well.

"I think we achieved the goals we set. We had a lot of good scores and the reason for this is because of the challenge to win the Christmas tournament and get into the club championships," said Clemente.

Clemente said that there are better club events to look forward to in 2003 and they’re in the process of finalizing the year-long schedule.

"We’ve tried to make club events as exciting as possible and we’ve made big steps because of the cooperation of the membership especially with members like Atty. Boy Ocampo who have provided us with sponsorships through their companies."

Qualifiers of the club championships will have until Jan. 19, 2003 to complete their match play duels.