Ateneo surges past La Salle

TRECE MARTIRES, Cavite — Ateneo pulled away from arch rival La Salle despite yielding a 2.5-3.5 loss in the second round of the alternate shot matches yesterday as the Blue Eagles sustained their first round romp to post a commanding 12.5-5.5 lead in the Fil-Estate Golf Ateneo-La Salle Championship Matches at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club here.

The Raymund Sangil-Bobby Celestino and the Tommy Manotoc-Miko Alejandro tandems came through with big victories under ideal playing conditions Saturday morning to key La Salle’s 3.5-2.5 win over Ateneo in the second round action. Sangil and Celestino stopped the giant-killing team of Jeric Hechanova and Marty Ilagan, 3 & 2, the same score posted by Manotoc and Alejandro in stamping their class over Bong Brobio and Jingy Tuason.

Jenz Tecson and Terence Macatangay also fashioned out a 3 & 2 win over Jun Jun Plana and Mark Lopez while Raffy Garcia and Justin Tambunting halved their match with Ateneo’s Pepot Inigo and Anthony Fernando for La Salle’s 3.5-point output.

Scoring for the Teboy Javier-captained Ateneo were Joel Opaco and Lino Retuerto, who beat Abe Rosal and Hanson So Jr., 4 & 3, while Jovi Neri and Louie Dacudao romped off with a 5 & 4 rout of Justin Limiap and JP Reyes.

While La Salle appeared to have gotten its momentum heading into the keenly-awaited singles matches today, the Archers, skippered by Richie Garcia, also needed to prevail in the afternoon matches being played at presstime to close in on their rivals in this Ryder Cup-style event sponsored by Fil-Estate Golf & Dev. Inc., Club Leisure Management Corp., Manila Southwoods Manor and Camp John Hay Manor.

Ateneo, which opened its bid with a 5-1 victory in the first round of the alternate shot matches, proved unrelenting and came up with a similar 5-1 rout in the best-ball late Friday afternoon to cushion the impact of La Salle’s surge Saturday.

Louie Dacudao and Mike Ozaeta sparked Ateneo’s win in the best-ball matches, beating Tommy Manotoc and Miko Yee, 3 & 1. Also winning for Ateneo were Jingy Tuason and Mari Hechanova, who beat the Limjap-Celestino tandem, 2 & 1; Noel Lopez and Jovi Neri won over Tambunting and King Stehmeier, 2 & 1; Opaco and Lino Retuerto edged Alejandro and So, 2 & 1.