MANILA, Philippines - Elmer de Leon, John Lim, and Emmanuel Sibal bucked the strong winds and tricky greens to rule their respective classes in the fifth edition of the MercedesTrophy National Final held at the Sta. Elena Golf Club’s challenging course in Cabuyao, Laguna.
De Leon came out on top in Class A after he scored 39 Stableford points. Lim had a 40 while Sibal made a 41 for the Classes B and C titles in the one-day event organized by CATS Motors Inc., exclusive distributor of Mercedes-Benz in the Philippines.
Ma. Luisa Carlos-Locsin carded 35 points to win in the ladies division of the tournament, which was co-presented by Philippine Airlines, PLDT Business Solutions, Smart Infinity, Shell Helix, Arrow Shirts and TW Steel Watches.
More important, their victories earned them slots for the MercedesTrophy Asian Final set in Brisbane, Australia Aug. 18-21. They’ll travel on business class via official carrier Philippine Airlines with CATS Motors president and team head Felix Ang.
Also joining the Asian Final, which will be played at the picturesque Hope and Glades courses, are runners-up Felix Chung (Class A), Ricardo Bernabe (Class B), Augusto Gan (Class C) and CATS PR director and country captain Emy Arcilla.
Peter Ryan Gillego shot the only ace on the par-three, 168-yard, No. 7 where he used a Mizuno E10 five-iron and Callaway 1 ball. He didn’t win the Mercedes-Benz E350 Coupe AMG Sport, though, but was rewarded with a Canon EOS 7D body.
Sahay Roshan and Anton Cabangon-Chua copped the sponsors division crowns in the MercedesTrophy, which had Sta. Elena Properties, Canon, Makati Shangri-La, Coors Light, Crown Pipes, Johnnie Walker, Business Mirror, and Inquirer Golf as major sponsors.
“This was, by far, the most successful staging of the MercedesTrophy and I would like to thank our loyal Mercedes-Benz owners for their continuous support and the CATS organizing staff for a job well done,” said CATS Motors chairman Greg Yu.