Alta Vista carries huge lead in Sta. Lucia Tour

Alta Vista of Cebu is out for a victory waltz as it tries to hold on to a seemingly insurmountable lead in the two-stage Luzon leg of the 2008 Sta. Lucia Tour, the annual showdown of members from eight exclusive golf clubs flying the banner of the real estate giant, slated today and tomorrow.

Having amassed a 30-point lead with dominating performances in the Mindanao and Visayas legs held the last two months, Alta Vista needs only a few points from today’s leg at the Palmer course of the Orchard Golf and Country Club and tomorrow’s closing stop at the Norman and Faldo layouts of Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club to wrap up the overall crown.

Rancho Palos Verdes of Davao, second in the rankings, and Eagle Ridge, running third 34 points behind, are hoping for a virtual miracle with either teams needing to sweep one of the remaining legs and pray that the Alta Vista scoring machine conk out.

The Cebuanos, who scored a mighty sweep of all four team categories at their home course last month, are actually looking for their third overall win, which will put them one shy of the record four won by Eagle Ridge in the first nine stagings of the Sta. Lucia Tour.

Orchard, Royale Tagaytay, Lakewood, Summit Point and Lake Caliraya Springs are the other five teams in the field.

The other backers of the Sta. Lucia Tour are LG Electronics, Northwest Airlines, Sports Network/Taylor Made, Oakley, Immuvit, Inquirer Golf, GG&A Club Shares. Hole-in-one sponsors are Toyota Motor Philippines, Inc. and Texas Eagle/Turf Company while Mandarin Oriental and Marco Polo are the official hotels.

Up for grabs as the main hole-in-one prize is a Toyota Altis from TMPI, Northwest Airlines is giving away round-trip tickets anywhere in the United States for a hole-in-one feat while Sports Network, Inc., the Philippine distributor of  Taylor Made and several brands, is donating an iron set.

Raffle prizes from Sta. Lucia, Northwest Airlines, LG Electronics, Immuvit and Oakley will be given away in tomorrow’s awarding ceremony to be graced by Sta. Lucia bigwigs Exequiel Robles, Vicente Santos and Engr. Wini Gob and top officials of the eight Sta. Lucia-operated clubs.

Also to be disputed in the two-day finale are the team and individual awards for the leg and series.

Eagle Ridge has won the Sta. Lucia Cup four times in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006, Alta Vista twice in 2003 and 2005 and Palos Verdes in 2004 and 2007.