Canlubang remains team to beat in PAL Interclub

Mario Labajo will not be around next year but Canlubang believes it can get the job done – a record fourth straight men’s crown and 15th overall when the 62nd staging of the PAL Interclub golf championship is held in Davao.

Labajo emerged Cangolf’s surprise package this year as the diminutive Matina, Davao native fired a tournament-best 39 points, three-under par 67 in medal play, that sparked the team’s title-clinching charge right in the second round.

But the 36-year-old shotmaker, who also took the individual plum with 71 points, is likely to end his three-year-stint with the team as he is set to move to the pro ranks this year, leaving the cudgels to the young Turks of Cangolf for next year’s battle down south.

“At 36, Mario is likely to try his luck in the pros. But even if our roster will be reduced to just eight, we still believe we have enough talents to pull it off again next year,” said Cangolf seniors mainstay and golf patron Tommy Manotoc.

With national team stalwarts Jhonnel Ababa and Mark Fernando, national pool members Rufino Bayron and Paul Echavez and Joey Huerva, Joseph Labajo, Jessie Balasabas and Zanie Boy Gialon in the fold, the Barons are again fancied to dominate the event in 2009.

Ababa and Fernando, veteran of the SEA Games and Putra Cup teams, and Bayron are set to compete in at least two international tournaments this year – the World Amateurs in Australia and the Putra Cup in Singapore – and many say the troika could only get better for next year’s Interclub.

Unlike other teams, Cangolf, through Manotoc’s golf program and resources, is investing so much to keep a fighting team and maintain its competitiveness.

“With two players in the national team and another two in the pool, I think we’re doing the right thing,” said Manotoc, who also helped power Cangolf to a record 20-point romp over Southwoods in the seniors two weeks ago.

Canlubang’s team skipper Luigi Yulo said winning gives them some kind of a thrill, hinting at more championships in what has long been considered the national club team championships.

Last week’s feat was Cangolf’s third straight double, tying Luisita’s record from 1991-93. And it’s 34-point rout of Southwoods also matched Luisita’s victory over Canlubang in 1992, the second in the Tarlac-based squad’s sweep of both the seniors and men’s divisions which the Barons also equalled this year.

Southwoods, meanwhile, has vowed to come back strong next year, vowing to inject new blood into the team’s composition that has been decimated the last few years.

“We will definitely bring in four new talents next year,” said Southwoods team captain Thirdy Escano, whose bid to bolster the team with talents from the countryside has been hampered by the club’s decision not to tap caddies or ex-caddies.

But a Southwoods official said the Carmona-based squad will never beat Canlubang unless they enlist and develop players from the caddies ranks.

However, Escano is eyeing talents from the ICTSI golf stable to backstop the team for next year’s battle, including Dante Becierra, the reigning Hong Kong Amateur Open and HK Jockey Club Championship titlist, and RP pool member Ferdie Aunzo and two others.

Becierra and Aunzo’s addition could indeed give Southwoods some kind of a push but the Barons remain formidable with a team teeming with talent and could still be unbeatable as they chase a record fourth straight championship next year.