Pacto primes up for Open, wins pro-am

He missed breaking the course mark at Villamor last week, but Robert Pactolerin hopes to smash his rivals’ bids with his superb shotmaking when he seeks a second Open crown in 14 years in the DHL-Philippine Open this week at Riviera’s Langer layout.

Pactolerin, winner of the 1990 Open, fired an eight-under-par 64 that came very close to the course mark of 63 as he beat Tony Lascuna by two strokes for the top individual plum in the Celebrity Pro-Am fund-raising golf tournament of the Professional Golfers Association of the Philippines recently at the Villamor course.

Lascuna, however, got a better partner in the pro-am, Col. Victorino Dominguez, and both went home with the team crown after posting a 139 aggregate counting the System 36 net 73 of the latter.

Pactolerin won a Mizuno T-Zoid set donated by Lovell Gopez of Master Sports while Lascuna pocketed P8,000 in cash as the pro winners of the 18-hole tourney given major backing by Handog Marketing.

The portly pro is among the 54 local bets, who include former champions Frankie Miñoza, Cassius Casas, Mario Manubay and Gerald Rosales, who will vie for the top $24,225 purse in the event serving as the fifth leg of the Asian Tour and presented by San Miguel Corp. But the Filipino pros will be as much tested as their foreign counterparts, headed by defending champion Rick Gibson of Canada and top Thai shotmaker Boonchu Ruangkit.

A crack field of 159 is seeing action in the $150,000 event sponsored by DHL Express and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines with the United States and Australia the most represented among the foreign countries with 13 players each while India has 12, including European Tour campaigner Jeev Milkha Singh.

Korea, led by Lee Sung Man, the third round leader in the Malaysian Open, Japan and Taiwan has 11 entries apiece in the four-day tournament, which will also feature the lone woman entry in Ria Quiazon.

The Open, backed by Mitsubishi Motors as the event’s official car and Days Hotel, the official hotel, actually marks the professional debut of the six-time member of the national women’s squad and although the field and the course appear formidable and daunting, Quiazon hopes to come out of the event a better and stronger player.

The par-71 Langer layout is actually hosting the Open, supported by WWW Express, Pagcor, Mizuno, BMG Solar, U-Bix, Nextel and City of Makati, for the second time in four years after Rosales won an all-peso tournament in 2000. Miñoza, meanwhile, snapped a long RP Open title drought with a victory in 1998 at Riviera’s adjacent Couples course.

Meanwhile, DHL Express will provide free transportation to golfing fans to and from Riviera in the last two days of the tournament. Two shuttle buses will leave the Intercon Hotel in Makati at 8 and 9 a.m. For details, call up NGAP at tel. Nos. 525-6987 or 524-5160.

Placing second behind Lascuna-Dominguez was the pair of Ruben Sasutil-Henson Laguna (141) with Estong Marabe-Atty. Lambino (142) placing third.

Richard Lee, Armando Enema and Villamor general manager Gen. Roberto Sabularse were the first three individual amateur finishers and won items from La Jolla Golf.

Sarge Negrido, president of the PGAP, said that more than anything else, the ultimate goal was to boost the morale of the local pros in the DHL-Philippine Open starting Thursday.

"I think our top guns have a good chance with the way they played in the fund-raiser. We’re hoping for the best for all our fellow pros," said Negrido.