11th season of Sta. Lucia tour kicks off

DAVAO, Philippines – The 11th season of the Sta. Lucia Golf Tour, the annual showdown of members from nine exclusive golf clubs flying the banner of the real estate giant, gets going today at the hazard-laden Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club course here with Alta Vista of Cebu eyeing a third consecutive overall diadem.

Two hundred players are set to answer the two shotgun starts in the morning and afternoon today for the official start of a course-hopping nationwide series organized by Sta. Lucia Realty and Development, Inc. that will also bring them to three other championship courses in the Visayas and Luzon in the next two months.

Alta Vista, Eagle Ridge and Rancho Palos Verdes, clubs which have shared the overall championships in the first 10 editions of the Sta. Lucia Tour, are once again expected to flex their might against smaller lineups from the other clubs.

Royale Tagaytay is also sending a full-sized delegation in what is seen to be a big push for the overall plum. The other clubs in the field are Orchard, Lakewood, Summit Point, Lake Caliraya Springs and Beverly Place.

Aside from playing for their home clubs, the participants will also chase attractive prizes put up by the other sponsors, LG Electronics, Philippine Airlines, RizGolf, Dynamic Sports and Leisure Corp. and Master Sports Corp. The official hotels are Marco Polo (Davao), Marriot (Cebu) and Mandarin Oriental.

The tourney also offers a hole-in-one package worth more than P1 million consisting of a residential lot at Rio de Oro subdivision in Cavite, the fuel-efficient Suzuki Celerio, wide-screen Changhong television set and a set of Titleist irons.

After topping the 2003 and 2005 editions, Alta Vista ended a slump by topping the last two editions. Eagle Ridge prevailed in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006 while Palos Verdes triumphed in 2004 and 2007.

From Davao, the series goes to Cebu for the second leg at Alta Vista on Oct. 6-10 then winds up at the Orchard and Eagle Ridge course on Nov. 2-6.