Sta. Lucia golf tour starts Oct. 3

Golfers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao mix it up in an island-hopping series designed to foster goodwill and camaraderie when the third edition of the Sta. Lucia Golf Tour blasts off in Davao.

The Tour kicks off Oct. 3-5 at the Rancho Palos Verdes in Mandug/Indangan, Davao, one of the five host venues that also include the Alta Vista in Cebu for the Visayas leg and Orchard and Eagle Ridge as co-hosts for the Luzon swing.

In addition to the chase for the Sta. Lucia Cup, there’s another side-event for the participating members to look forward when the Tour wraps up in December with TaylorMade putting up no less than P300,000 worth of prizes in a shootout at the Royale Tagaytay.

TaylorMade is coming in as the new major backer of the series exclusive for members of major clubs operating under the Sta. Lucia banner. Philippine Airlines is the official airline, Yamaha and SC Kymco Pilipinas, Inc. are hole-in-one prize providers and Canon minor sponsor.

Hyatt Regency Manila, Cebu Plaza and The Marco Polo are the partner hotels.

Vicente Santos and Winnie Gob, co-chair of the organizing committee, recently received from tournament director Andy Dumlao the final roster of the clubs participating with all 240 slots filled up and several teams waiting to be accommodated.

It will be the biggest roster in three years, attesting to the growing interest given to the event where participation is substantially subsidized by Sta. Lucia Realty.

"We’re also glad to hear that a lot of the members are bringing along family members to their trips. We’ve envisioned this series to be all about family affair not just for the Sta. Lucia clubs but for families of members as well," said Santos.

Gob, for his part, said that the promotion of domestic tourism is one of the targets of the series and even foreign expatriates have been involved in it.

Sta. Lucia is currently working on the completion of golf course developments like the Summit Point in Batangas and Lake Caliraya. In the near future, all these clubs are expected to make the Tour even bigger.