Sarigumba, Razon rule Mactan Amateur Open

Cebu - Ronnie Sarigumba and Hospicio Razon bagged the top honors in the Mactan Amateur Open 2009, which ended yesterday at the Mactan Island Golf Club in Lapu-Lapu City.

Sarigumba topped the regular men’s division while Razon had to go through a two-hole sudden-death play off before claiming the seniors’ (55 years old and up) crown.

Shooting rounds of 71 and 75, Sarigumba had a two-day total of two-over-par 146 strokes and ran away with the men’s title.

 Second place went to Alfredo Cabajar with a total of 151 strokes on rounds of 76 and 75 while third place went to Fernando ‘Andoy’ Mondares with 152 (71-81).

Hubert Calan took fourth place with 155 (76-79) while Cebu Country Club’s Mark Dy broke the domination of the Mactan players when he took fifth with a total of 156 (73-83).

Sixth to tenth places went to Alta Vista’s Angelo ‘Gio’ Gandiongco with 158 (77-81), Jonathan Dionson 159 (80-79), Roy Dadula 160 (77-830, Joemar Nuñez 160 (80-80), and VJ Vasandani 161 (80-81).

Retired General Rodante S. Joya, general manager of the host club, said that this tournament is a good warm up for the players taking part in the Philippine Airlines Interclub late February.

He is hopeful that the field will get bigger in the coming years.

In the seniors’ class, Razon was slapped a two-stroke penalty on the 14th hole and was tied with Hebe Vidal after the 36th hole. In the sudden death, Vidal lost it on the 2nd hole after his second found the water giving Razon the much-needed breathing space for a two-putt closing.

Razon had rounds of 78 and 84 for a total of 162 while second placer Vidal shot rounds of 84 and 78.

Third place for the seniors’ class went to Joya with 167 on rounds of 84 and 83 while fourth and fifth placers were Pedrito Buenavista with 168 (81-870 and Tom Orchel with 174 (87-87).

The sixth to tenth placers were Felix Villanueva with 176 (85-91), Chandram Rama 178 (89-89), Yoshio Yamane 179 (85-94), Bruce Walker 181 (84-97), and Mike Walek 183 (88-95).

The awards ceremony was held yesterday afternoon at the MIGC clubhouse. – THE FREEMAN