Two-time national amateur champion Jerome Delariarte will lead the Carmona, Cavite-based parbusters to an unprecedented sixth consecutive title even as Mizuno Sports attempts to end the reign which is the longest in Fil-Am history.
No team has made it six in a row in the top flight of the 14-flight, 730-players event bankrolled by Smart, Royal Caribbean and Northwest Airline which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo lauded in its faxed message to its organizers.
Canlubang earned five straight crowns in the 80’s and by winning this year, Southwoods will also close in on the record eight titles of the Laguna-based club which stopped playing in the ’95 edition.
Southwoods is actually eyeing a seventh crown counting its title in 1996 when Jun Jun Plana took the over-all crown. Southwoods lost to the then Juvic Pagunsan-led Malacañang in two straight years before winning the 1998 staging when Delariarte joined the team.
Dumandan and Raymund Sangil backing him, while Delariarte has Erwin Vinluan, Gene Bondoc, Turo Nakajima and Juami Rocha at his side.
Southwoods came back strong the next year after winning the PAL Interclub for back to back crowns.
What made the victory sweeter was the fact that it was the 50th anniversary of the Fil-Am.
The third was the most difficult as the team battled from 18-points down to wear down the Tommy Manotoc-led Calatagan in a controversial finish.
Mizuno became the biggest rival of Southwoods the next year and last year as it tried building up a powerful cast that could topple Southwoods from its mighty perch.
With a powerhouse all-Del Monte lineup, Benny Gopez believed that he could stop Southwoods from winning its fifth crown last year but fell short in the end as Delariarte powered Southwoods with a five-under card.
It was in the Am division that Mizuno reigned with Tristan Tabanas paving the way for Mizuno’s third straight Am Championship flight.
Tabanas actually matched Delariarte‚s score for the Am championship title.
Tabanas is elevated to the Fil division in the hope to Delariarte from leading his team to the title.
Tabanas will have Marvin Dumandan and Raymund Sangil backing him, while Delariarte has Erwin Vinluan, Gene Bondoc, Turo Nakajima and Juami Rocha at his side.