63RD PAL INTERCLUB: Cebu slips to fourth, Southwoods surges

Bacolod City , Philippines  – Cebu Country Club slipped to fourth spot in the Founders division of the 63rd Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament playing at the Bacolod Golf and Country Club course in the town of Murcia yesterday.

The Cebuanos scored 116 points for a two-day total of 233 points. Carl Almario, who is nursing a back injury, led the team with 32 points yesterday. Fourteen-year-old Gio Gandionco fired 29 points while Mark Dy had 28. Last to count was either of the 28s submitted by team captain Montito Garcia and his nephew Marko Sarmiento.

Manila Southwoods had a huge day over at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club yesterday shooting 134 points to add to their opening round of 108 for an aggregate of 242.

At second spot is Del Monte with 237 points on rounds of 117 and 120.

Co-host NOGCC is at solo third with 236 points on rounds of 109 and 127. Bacolod-Based Korean Jae Yang fired four-under-par 40 points yesterday in the PAL Points or Stableford Scoring System to lead the Negrenses.

Opening day leader Santa Elena limped with 109 points yesterday and is running fifth with 128 points after an opening round of 119.

Garcia said that the performance of their team for the first two days has been below expectation. “Wasted a lot of points on the last four holes on both days,” he told The Freeman.

“We will make our move tomorrow (today),” Garcia said.

He will be fielding Gandionco, opening day top scorer LJ Go, Jovi Neri, Bayani Garcia, and Jojo Tiongko today.

Mactan is sixth with 216 on rounds of 103 and 113. Those who counted for the team total yesterday were Ronnie Sarigumba 33, Jun-jun Cabajar 30, Andrew Cañete 26, and Jose Mari Dizon 24. The 22 of Renato Aquino did not count.

The same set of players will play for Mactan today as they play at NOGCC anew.

Alta Vista, which had dinner with pro golfer Juvic Pagunsan the other night, somewhat recovered from its opening day shock and managed to improve yesterday scoring 95 points for a two-day total of 182. Gabriel Yap, Jr. once again led the team yesterday with 28 points. Ed Acain made 25, Alex yeo had 24 and Wendel Yap made 18, which was the last to count.

Kim Kwang Seok continued to struggle in form as he shot 13, which did not count.

Alta Vista skipper Victor Gocela is still positive that the team can gain some ground on the last two days. He will play today and tomorrow alongside Enrico Solon, Dennis Canoy, Edsel Tan, and Emir Abutazil.

Championship

In the premiere category, The Country Club overtook Canlubang in the race for the lead. TCC has a two-day total of 268 points on rounds of 134 and 134.

Antonio Asistio led the team yesterday with 38 points.

Canlubang added 129 to its opening round of 137 for a total of 266. Alabang remains a comfortable, but far third with 217 (107-110).

Sportswriters

Pueblo de Oro paces this third-ranked category with a two-day total of 205 points on rounds of 103 and 102.

Running second are Manila Golf (97-100) and Tagaytay Higlands with (107-90) with 197. Valley follows at fourth with 192 (92-100).

Club Filipino, which is bracketed in this class, could not find its form at NOGCC yesterday and managed only 67 points. Razy Razon led the team with 20 points while Evans Tumaliwan made 17 and Raymond Garcia and Boboy Durano each turned in 15 points.

The team now has a total of 160 points. The second set of players arrived yesterday and will play on the final two days.

Club Filipino’s second team will be composed of Victor Yuvallos, Shotaro Suda, Kento Nakada, and Francis Jereza.

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.