Magpantay rules Mabuhay golf

MANILA, Philippines - Lino Magpantay carded a gross two-over 74 in overcast skies then nipped Monchu Nolasco in the countback to capture Mabuhay Miles Elite Invitational crown at the Tagaytay Midlands and Highlands courses in Tagaytay recently.

Magpantay, a veteran campaigner in the PAL Interclub with the Luisita senior team, and Nolasco, general manager of Shulman Air Freight, slugged it out at Midlands’ tough East course and wound up tied at the end of the 18-hole tournament.

But Magpantay’s lower handicap – five to his rival’s six – proved crucial as it enabled him to edge Nolasco by a stroke for the low gross title, his third after winning the low net honors in 2010 and 2011.

Nolasco settled for his second straight low net title, spiking his 68 with a tournament-best four birdies.

The event drew a total of 192 players – all Elite, Premier Elite and Million Miler members of Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay Miles program.

Meanwhile, new faces emerged as champions in the other divisions of the event sponsored by MasterCard, Petron Corp. and Philippine National Bank with Boeing, GE Aviation, Metrobank Card Corp., People Asia and Panasonic Avionics Systems Corp. as corporate sponsors.

Eduvigis “Joey” Solis, president of Enerkons Inc., banked on his familiarity with the course to nose out Luis Tabuena, president of Production Village Corp., for the Class A crown.

Solis, who plays for Tagaytay Highlands in the PAL Interclub, and Tabuena finished tied with net 70s but the former took the title with 10 pars against his rival’s seven. Mark Monk fired the only eagle of the day on No. 16 and placed third with a 71.