Plana, Macalaguim claim gross title in Southwoods tilt

MANILA, Philippines — Junjun Plana and Gab Macalaguim formalized their claim on the overall gross title while Richard Santos and Michael Miguel edged the Manolo Agojo-Joven Guevarra pair in a tiebreak to snare the overall net crown in the Southwoods Invitational at the Legends and Masters courses in Carmona, Cavite over the weekend.

Plana and Macalaguim cruised to a seven-point romp with a 161 total built around 84 points in best-ball format at the Masters and 77 points in aggregate play at the Legends.

Justine Tambunting and Terrence Macatangay settled for second with a 154 (86-68) while Edsel Opulencia and Abraham Avena carded a 153 (82-71) for third.

The Santos-Miguel tandem, meanwhile, combined for a 180 (96-84), the same output put in by Agojo and Guevarra. But the former bagged the net title with a lower team handicap.

Sharing the podium in the four-day event which drew a full-packed field of 400 players were Thirdy Escaño and Bong Tirol (Division I), Ian Tambunting and Raymond Lacdao (Division 2), Ian Arceo and Mike Ong (Division 3), Vince Siy and Francis Tanjangco (Division 4), and Agojo and Guevarra (Division 5).

Escaño and Tirol pooled a 174 (96-78) to nip Edsel Opulencia and Ave Avena (94-79) by one; Tambunting and Lacdao scored a 176 (96-80) to post a three-point victory over Victor Tanjuatco and Paolo Iñigo (96-77); Arceo and Ong assembled a 176 (96-80) for a seven-point win over Bob Sobrepeña and Monet Garcia (96-73); Siy and Tanjangco turned in a 170 (96-74) and won by four over Jimmy Borromeo and Raymond Bunquin (92-74); and Agojo and Guevarra posted 180 (96-84) to foil Dexter Lim and Lucas Lim, who pooled a 179 from rounds of 96-83.

Jerry Lim and Rafael Reyes combined for a 172 (92-80) to top the Sponsor/Guest division of the event backed by The Turf Company as title sponsor and Mitsubishi Motors Phil. Corp./Alpine Motors Corp., Royal Caribbean/Baron Travel, Agrexplore Corp., Abomar Equipment Sales Corp., Sojitz Fuso Phil. Corp., Klio International Marketing Corp. and HBW Enterprises as Platinum sponsors.

Christian Angeles, with member partner Oscar Visaya, grabbed the opening-day spotlight by scoring a hole-in-one on No. 3 of the Masters. He won a four-night Southeast Asia cruise for two, inclusive of two economy class tickets (Manila-Singapore-Manila), courtesy of Royal Caribbean/Baron Travel and pocketed P100,000 from Sojitz Fuso Phils. Corp. for the feat.

Other backers of the event were The Manor & The Forest Lodge at Camp John Hay and Leads Agricultural Products Corp. head the Gold backers list and Le Chef, Inc., Metro Rail Transit Dev’t. Corp., PGA Clubshares and PNOEZ as Silver sponsors.