8th Island Tee fires off today

CEBU - Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Legaspi, commander of the 2nd Air Division of the Philippine Air Force and chairman of the board of Mactan Island Golf Club led the hitting of ceremonial balls noontime yesterday to signal the start of the 8th Island Tee.

The tournament proper is set to start today at the MIGC course inside the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City with half of the field composed of close to 200 teams set to see action.

This four-day event runs until Sunday, but the two-man member-guest teams will only play two rounds within this period.

The Modified Stableford Scoring System will be used and scores will be based on the November 1 handicap of the players.

This scoring system awards six points for a net double eagle, five for an ace, four for a net eagle, three for a net birdie, two for a net par, and one for a net bogey.

At stake are trophies and other prizes for the top three finishers of the various categories as well as the overall champion or the team with the best gross score.

The categories to be contested are classes A to D, ladies and seniors for teams whose players are at least 55 years old and the total age of the team is not less than 120 years. The teams would be classified based on the average handicap of the players.

At stake for an ace on holes No. 4 and 15 are a Kia Sportage, a set of Honma 5 stars irons, and P50 thousand worth of casino chips.

On holes number 6 and 11, a Nissan March, a Yamaha motorcycle, a set of Honma 5 stars irons, and P50 thousand worth of casino chips are up for a hole-in-one.

In case more than one player will win a certain set of prizes, they will have to equally share them.

The hole-in-one sponsors are Gateway Motors (Kia) Cebu, RDAK Special Units, Casino Filipino Mactan, Norkis Trading, and Eagle Port Pro Shop.

The awards ceremony is set this Sunday at the MIGC grounds. 

Retired General Rodante Joya, general manager of the club, told The Freeman yesterday that they have also prepared an alternate venue in case it would rain on Sunday night.

The event is co-presented by the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) Casino Filipino-Mactan with PLDT and Bayswater as platinum backers.

Tee off time was originally set to start at 6 a.m., but Joya said that they have been forced to adjust the schedule to start earlier due to the deluge of teams.

“Hindi na namin alam kung saan sila ilalagay,” (We don’t anymore know where to put them) said Joya referring to those teams that are still hoping to join the tournament. (THE FREEMAN)