In a bid to make the 20th edition of the Mango Tee really different from the previous ones, organizers bared yesterday that the Lancer will be given away as the grand raffle prize exclusive to participants of the tournament slated on Feb. 5-8.
The Lancer is, of course, apart from the usual bonanza of four cars provided by Mitsubishi Motors Phils., Inc. and Citimotors as hole-in-one prizes in all par-3s for the four-day member-guest invitational presented by Smart Communications.
That the excitement over the Mango Tee is reaching fever-pitch was clearly evident during the weekend’s well-attended Chairman’s Cup where the club was abuzz with the lavish arrangements being supervised by ACCI golf chairman Jimbo Inigo and sports division manager Caloy Coscolluela.
ACCI vice president Paul Cortez is also lending a hand as the socials chairman motivated by the cause of further enhancing the image of the club.
"We always consider the Mango Tee as the main event and there is always that challenge for us to make it the best in all aspects in whatever way we can," said Cortez.
Mango Tee committee head Ed Lacson said that the club will be a virtual fiesta of sponsors come tournament week. Already in the list are Mitsubishi Motors Philippines, Pilipinas Shell, Taylormade adidas, Citimotors and Allied Domecq/Carlos I as major sponsors.
Sharp, Standard Chartered Bank, The Turf Co. and Food Link are area sponsors and FedEx, Nestle, Pepsi and Security Bank/Diners Club are premium sponsors.
Hole sponsors are Acro Industrial, Ayala Greenfield Estate, Beacon Environmental Mgt., Club 515, City Service Corp., East West Bank, General Milling Corp., GG&A, Golfers Club Shares, Inc., Haji Andi Tabusalla, Joseph Rice Center, MIS Maritime, Palms Point, PNCC Skyway, Prudential Life, Safe Seas Shipping, San Miguel, T&C Construction, Tanduay, The Bellevue, True Value, Unilab/Enervon and YKK Zipper Phils. Par Options Corp., Gainer’s Marketing, Maisog Engineering Works and Anthony’s wine are minors sponsors.
An innovation this year is the near-real time reporting of tournament results in the club website. Browsers from their homes and offices will get a live update of the team and individual scoring in the club website at acci.com.ph.
Meanwhile, the team of Babes Guilatco, Rodolfo Floro, Rene Garovillo and Buddy Velayo tallied a 65 then nipped the quartet of Danny Sarmiento, Freddie Oliveros, Roy Sangil and Shigemi Chikama for the Group I crown of the Chairman’s Cup.
The Group II title was won by Abe Villacorta, Tony Robles, Johnny Chan and Pol Petralba with a score of 65 and the Group III crown was won by Renee Francisco, Rene Francisco, Francis Lee and Tony.