Visiting Korean earns seat in Samsung finals

Kevin Lee, a vacationing teenager from Korea, walked into the Orchard Golf and Country Club recently and found himself needing to extend his visit as he made it along with nine others to the grand finals of the Samsung Putting Challenge.

Lee, a 2-handicapper, made 15 out of the standard 18 strokes and like I G Gutierrez was among the jungolf winners at the Orchard, in the penultimate stage of an elimination series that is set to end at Wack Wack on Jan. 18-19.

Wack Wack has also agreed to host the grand final on Feb. 1 where all qualifiers from the eight legs will assemble.

It was Roberto Bobbis who emerged with the lowest score of 13 giving him one of the four men’s slots. The others were won by Honesto Soriano (14), Henry Uy (14) and Luis Cebrero Jr. (17).

The other qualifiers were Catalino Genovea (16) and Vic Florentino (14) in the seniors side and Cecille del Rosario (18) and Cristy Topacio (18) in the ladies category.

Sponsored by Samsung as its first major undertaking in golf, the putting series is part of a three-in-one event that also covers the Amateur Tour and the Interscholastics. The co-sponsors are Taylor Made adidas, Hotshots Flame-Grilled Burgers, Gatorade, Fila, Custom Clubmakers and Greg Norman Shirts by Planet Sports.

A new batch of 10 players also gained entry into the Hole-In-One Challenge where a brand new car is at stake in the finals also on Feb. 1. They are Don Martin Fernandez, Wilbert Young, Grace Superal, Milo Fernandez, Celestino Ko, Marvin Albert Pizarro, Jovilyn Sitjar, Cristy Topacio, Roberto Bobbis and Mario Parinas.

Meanwhile, the Tagaytay Midlands leg of the Samsung Amateur Tour comes to an end today where 82 players are fighting it out for the five finals berths up for grabs in the men’s championship: Class A, Class B and Class C and ladies Class A and Class B.