Lim-Pizarro and Garcia repeat at Coral Invitational

CEBU, Philippines -  Wellington Lim and Danny Pizarro repeated as overall champions, while Bayani Garcia once again bagged the lowest gross plum but with another partner in this year's 32nd Coral Invitational at the Cebu Country Club.

Lim and Pizarro combined for 170 points in the four-day, 36-hole tournament that used the Modified Scoring System.  Playing with a handicap of 30 strokes, Lim fired rounds of 46 and 43 points while Pizarro, who plays with a handicap of 14, made 42 and 39 points.

Lim also bagged the individual lowest net honors with his two-day total of 89 points.

Garcia found himself a new partner this year, but this did not change the result as he once again bagged the lowest gross honors with Den-den de Castro.

Garcia fired identical eagle-aided rounds of 37points.  He eagled the par-5 hole No. 2 on his first round and then scored another eagle three on the par-5 hole No. 7 yesterday.  His partner made 37 and 28 points.  The team combined for a total of 139 points.

Last year, Garcia paired with Ludwig Ledesma and they brought home the lowest gross team title.  Adding another feather to his cap this year, Garcia also took home the lowest gross award for the individual category with two-under-par 74 points.

First runner-up honors went to the team of Ernesto ‘Dodong’ Siguana and Rico Rey Francis ‘Koko’ Holganza with 169 points.  Siguan made 42 and 45 points while Holganza had 39 and 43.

Second runner-up was the tandem of Gilfer Alvarez and Leo Quimco with 166 points.  Alvarez shot rounds of 37 and 41 while Quimco made 42 and 46.

Third runner-up honors went to the duo of Jacinto Limyutian and Albert Solis with 165 points. Limyutian made 41 and 42 while Solis shot 38 and 44.

Fourth runner-up was the duo of Gabriel Yap, Jr. and Anthony Bejar with 164 points while rounding up the winners was the team of Tom Ware and Albert Chian with 162 points.

Seniors division

With Lim and Pizarro out of the way, the team of Ang Chiong and Nido Lao bagged the crown for this category exclusive to teams whose total team age is at least 120 years old.

Chiong shot rounds of 36 and 38 while Lao had 39 and 45 for a total of 158 points.

First runner-up honors went to Arturo Go and Pablo Soon with 154 points.  Go shot rounds of 43 and 42 while Soon had 35 and 34.

Second runner-up was the team of Cesar Libi and Noel Abad with 147 points edging Ben Dapat and Carlo Magno in the countback using the total age of the team members.

Day winners

Jojo Alquizola and Calvin Serion, who dominated on the first day, were awarded the best score plum for the first round with their 89-point output.  Alquizola made 39 points while Serion made the course look like putty with his game as he made 14-under-par 50 points.

The best score award for the second day went to Herbet Ong and Cesar Go with 81 points.

The best score for the first day among the senior teams went to the partnership of Edmundo Misa and Romy Hipolito with 72 points.  The best for the second round went to the tandem of Dapat and Magno with 79 points.

Aside from Garcia, the other eagle achievers were Tedd Almario on the par-4 tenth hole, Fredric Chiongbian on the 7th, Jon Joseph Alvarez on the 7th,  and Kiyofumi Takahashi also on the 7th. (FREEMAN)