CEBU, Philippines - Charlie Gaite and Alexander Reyes took the early lead as The View Invitational 2014 teed off Thursday at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club in Pardo, Cebu City.
Gaite flirted with a sub-par gross score but had bogeys on his last three holes to finish with an even-par 72 strokes. Plus his handicap of five, Gaite finished with a net 41 points in the Modified Stableford Scoring System.
His partner, Reyes, shot a score of even-par 36 points for a team total of 77 in this four-day, 36-hole signature tournament of the club.
A second group played in the afternoon, but their scores were not yet available as of press time.
Running second is the team of Mark Douglas Tan and Romeo Aguilon with 72 points. Tan had 35 while Aguilon added 37.
Mario King (33) and Ed Franco (38) were at third with 71 points followed by Jershwin Po (41) and Calvin Gothong (29) with 70 points.
Rounding up the top ten from the morning group were Jason Yu (33) and Paolo Alberto (35) with 68, Alvin Suarez (36) and Baltaire Balangauan (31) with 67, King Abarintos (33) and Conrad Capa (33) with 66, Eddie Manzano (33) and Boy Nemeño (33) also with 66, Jun Zosa (34) and Joseph Yukayguan (29) with 63, and Jojo Cañada (29) and Gene Quintanilla (33) with 62.
The organizers decided to do a shotgun tee off to accommodate the 400 participants of the tournament. There are two groups every day. The first will tee off at 6 a.m. while the second at 12 noon.
Participants are encouraged to be at the club more than 30 minutes before the scheduled tee off.
Those players, who are members of clubs that are not part of the Unified National Handicapping System must submit club certified handicaps for the period of March to May 2014 prior to teeing off.
Those who cannot submit their handicaps before teeing off will play with a handicap of zero for the tournament.
At stake for a hole-in-one are a brand new Foton pick-up, a lot from Santa Lucia Realty, a golf cart from Club Car, a Sunriser motorcycle from Norkis Trading, a set of Cobra irons from Dynamic Sports, a trip to Singapore from Marist Royal Holidays, first bet coupons from Pagcor, a trip to Korea from Air Busan, an atmospheric water generator from San Gabriel Metal Arts, and a weekend stay at Moevenpick Hotel.
A Skygoi motorcycle is also at stake for an eagle on any of the par-4 holes.
In case more than one player will win a hole-in-one or eagle prize, such shall be equally shared. (PR from www.fullpointcebu.com)