Katsarugawa fires 69 to win Southwoods Chairman’s Cup

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Japanese Yuto Katsarugawa brandished top form to fire a solid three-under 69 and capture the overall gross crown in the Manila Southwoods Chairman’s Charity Cup at the Masters course in Carmona, Cavite over the weekend.

Katsarugawa, one of the members of Team Southwoods that finished runner-up in the recent Fil-Am Invitational in Baguio, came through with a couple of scrambling pars to complete his bogey-free stint at the hazard-laden layout and edge Brixton Aw by two for top honors.

Aw, who carded a 71, took the men’s Division I title.

Vic Conanan, a 21-handicapper, turned in a five-over 77 to snare the overall net plum with a 56 in the annual staging of Manila Southwoods’ premier tournament presented by Bangs Tony & Jackey Salons.

Jayson Yu shot a net seven-under 65 worth 43 points to pocket the men’s Division II diadem while Rick Bernabe and Francis Puzon bagged the Division III and IV titles with 44 and 43, respectively.

Guillermo Joel Garcia also grabbed the spotlight as he scored a hole-in-one on the 188-yard No. 13 and won a Mediterranean Greek Island Cruise for two, including airfare, courtesy of Royal Caribbean-Baron Travel. It was the lone ace made in the two-day event sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, Diamond Motors, Royal Caribbean/Baron Travel, Mit Air Sales Center, Southwoods Club Fitters, San Miguel/Purefoods, Megafiber, Le Chef, Warbird, Go 21, Rizgolf and Agrexplore Corp. with Garcia using a 5-iron and a Bridgestone ball No. 1 in making his first hole-in-one in 38 years.

Other winners were Brian Park (Seniors 1), Cesar Igual (Seniors 2), Kim Hee-sun (Ladies 1), Denzelle Chan (Ladies 2) and Harry Paltongan, president of Suntrust Properties, in the sponsors and guests division in the affair honoring club chair Robert Sobrepena.