Cebu teams move up in Interclub classification

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines  – The 63rd Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament tees off today at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club here and the Bacolod Golf and Country Club in the nearby town of Murcia. The classification of teams provided a very interesting twist to this year’s event.

Cebu Country Club, which has ruled the second-ranked Founders division seven times in the past nine years, will be up for a tough task this year as it has been promoted to the premiere Championship category.

The Cebuanos are actually ranked as third-seed for the tournament based on the PAL Points Average (PPA) of its players behind defending champion Canlubang and The Country Club, which will be fielding members of the national pool.

Canlubang’s PPA is 67.62 that of The Country Club is 65.66 while Cebu has 64.87.

Del Monte Golf Club and Manila Southwoods, both former champions of the tournament, are now classified under the Founders division along with Mactan Island Golf Club and Alta Vista Golf and Country Club.

Buddy Resureccion, one of the tournament officials told The Freeman that many of the teams have weakened, which is the reason why Cebu Country Club has been moved up to the Championship category.

Another reason for the changes in the classifications is that many top amateurs have turned professional, he said.

The last time the Cebuanos were bracketed in the premiere class was in 1997 in Davao City.

Eric Deen, who was supposed to be part of the team, but begged off on the last minute due to family commitment, said that “It’s about time, we can only get better,” when he received word about the team’s classification.

Deen was replaced by Jojo Tiongko in the line-up. The other players are skipper Montito Garcia, Jovi Neri, Marko Sarmiento, Mark Dy, Carl Almario, Bayani Garcia. Chuckie Hong, and teenagers LJ Go and Gio Gandionco.

Montito Garcia told The Freeman that the team is honored about the promotion, but he said that they will have to change their strategy on player development. This year, the team added 14-year-old Gandionco, who played for Alta Vista the past two years, and 15-year-old Go, who is a rookie.

“I plan to have them play both courses and I might even let them play on the final round so they can experience what real pressure is,” he said.

“We won’t let them go and will develop them,” Garcia added about his two teenage stars.

The team will field Neri, Bayani Garcia, Dy, Go and Hong today. The Championship and Friendship division teams will be playing at NOGCC today.

Mactan, which won the Sportswriters division title last year, will be fielding Fernando Mondares, Hubert Calan, Alberto Vergara, Hiroyuki Hasegawa and Jufil Sato at BGCC today.

Mactan skipper, Retired General Rodante Joya, is not unfazed that the team has been classified in a higher division.

He told The Freeman that he would be fielding only one set of players for each course as their strategy, which they also did in the previous editions of the tournament.

Alta Vista team captain Victor Gocela, said that they are very surprised at their team’s classification, but there is nothing they could do but give it a good fight. 

“We are discombobulated, but there’s no question, we will play and compete. That’s what we’re here for…though the team felt bad about the sorry situation,” he told The Freeman.

Seeing action today for the team at BGCC are Alex Yeo, Ed Acain, Wendell Yap, Kim Kwang Seok and Gabriel Yap, Jr.

Club Filipino skipper Boboy Durano said that his team, which will also be playing in BGCC will have Evans Tumaliwan, Raymond Garcia, Razy Razon and him playing today in the five-to-play, four-to-count event.

He told The Freeman that their fifth player could not make it to Bacolod for the first two days of action.

The event is presented by platinum sponsors Airbus, Boeing, 105.1 Crossover and Radio Mindanao Network. Major sponsors are Action Asia, GE Aviation, MTV Philippines, People Asia and Royal Caribbean.

The corporate backers are Business Mirror, Philippine Graphic, www.philstar.com, Sabre Airline Solutions/Sabre Travel Network and Resort World Manila. Century Park Hotel, DWWW 774 AM, Panay News, Master Card and Thales Aerospace are minor patrons. (FREEMAN NEWS)