Palos Verdes tops Davao leg of Sta. Lucia Tour

CEBU, Philippines - Host Rancho Palos Verdes took advantage of its familiarity of the course to rule the Davao leg of the 2010 Santa Lucia Golf Tour, which was played last weekend.

Palos Verdes amassed a total of 60 points in the competition, which is open exclusively to clubs developed by Santa Lucia Realty and Development Inc.

Cebu’s Alta Vista Golf and Country Club, the defending overall champion, managed only a total of 40 points and is currently third in the overall standings behind second-running Eagle Ridge with 42 points.

The best finish for Alta Vista in the two-man team event came in Group I where the tandem of Marlo Cugtas and Jun Suan fired a total of 182 points on rounds of 89 and 94 in the Molave Points System to finish as first runner-up.

The title for the premiere class went to the tandem of Vincent Gumapac and Ronald Galicia of Palos Verdes with 188 points.

Alta Vista also had a second runner-up finish in Group 3 courtesy of the team of Alex Garcia and Lino Dagus with 155 points on rounds of 81 and 74.

The first and second placers for the category were teams from Palos Verdes.

In the seniors’ division the tandem of Razi Razon and Masahisa Kawakami also broke the stranglehold of Palos Verdes by claiming third place honors.

Razon and Kawakami fired a combined 178 points on rounds of 90 and 88 and lost in the countback to the duo of Modesto Castillo and Vic Gonzales, which also finished with the same aggregate.

In the individual category, Cugtas took first runner-up honors in class B with his effort of 91 points on rounds of 44 and 47. He was tied with the champion Paul Dakudao of Palos Verdes, but lost in the countback based on the second day scores.

Kawakami also brought home another trophy by taking the second runner-up honors in the seniors’ class with 90 points.

The second leg of the tournament will be hosted by Alta Vista on October 7 to 10. —NLQ (THE FREEMAN)