TaylorMade Shootout up at Royale Tagaytay

Sta. Lucia Tour 2002 entries flex their muscles for the much-awaited grand finale as they compete in the TaylorMade Shootout, a skills contest set today at the compact but challenging Royale Tagaytay course.

The TaylorMade Shootout, an added feature to the country’s only series for members of various clubs flying the Sta. Lucia banner throughout the country, will stake prizes ranging from equipment to apparel on each of Royale Tagaytay’s nine holes.

Most of the 240 players in the roster are motoring to Tagaytay for the Shootout which should put them in the right frame of mind for the 36-hole finale of the Sta. Lucia Tour taking place tomorrow and Saturday.

The first round of the finals will be played at the Palmer course of the Orchard Golf and Country Club which falls on a national holiday tomorrow and then moves to the Faldo layout of the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club for the last 18 holes and awardings on Dec. 7.

The Shootout is part of TaylorMade’s major sponsorship of the series like Unirock, Corp. and Readycon. Minor sponsors are Gainers Marketing, Kubota, Omega, Kodak, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific while Yamaha is the hole-in-one prize provider while Hyatt (Manila), Marco Polo (Davao) and Cebu Plaza are the official hotels.

"Since one of the main objectives of the Tour is to really bring golfers around as many Sta. Lucia courses as possible, Royale Tagaytay’s inclusion as one of the hosts venues certainly makes it as one of the highlights of the third season," said executive committee co-chair Vicente Santos and Winnie Gob.

Santos and Gob will be on hand to join the day-long festivities in Tagaytay together with Royale Tagaytay GM Ruben Encinas and Ernest Paguia, golf business unit manager of Taylor Made.

The competition will require contestants to use a particular club for each hole ranging from wedges, middle irons, long irons and utility clubs. The objective will be to get as accurate as possible to win one of the two prizes on offer.

Royale Tagaytay is also opening its doors to companions of Sta. Lucia Tour participants in its desire to make the Shootout truly a family day.

Alta Vista is showing the way in the chase for the Sta. Lucia Cup after the completion of the Mindanao and Visayas legs. Rancho Palos Verdes hosted the first leg in October while Alta Vista staged the second round this month.