Phl rallies to snare Asean seniors crown

Manila, Philippines - The Philippines charged back with a final round 224 and captured the 28th ASEAN Seniors Golf Championships crown with a two-stroke victory over Malaysia at the mountain course of the Mimosa Golf Club in Clark, Pampanga Wednesday.

Reigning national seniors champion Pepot Iñigo kept his fine form and fired a 69 to lead the hosts’ big rally in the 54-hole stroke-play gross event which staked the Sire Henriy HS Lee Challenge Trophy. The other members were Rudy Amata, Jose Mari Hechanova and Tony Olives.

The Philippines, tied with Malaysia behind Brunei in the first round and dropped to joint third with Thailand after 36 holes, wound up with a 688 aggregate, edging Malaysia, which had a 690 after a 230.

Brunei cracked under pressure and skied to a 246, tumbling down to third with a 702.

Thailand came in fourth at 704 followed by Indonesia (723) and Singapore (736).

The hosts completed a sweep of the major titles as Dante Tejada, Mario Lugay, Ben Liclican and Domingo Manuel pooled 594 to beat Indonesia’s 606 for the two-day Stableford competition which offered the Zakir Challenge Trophy.

The other individual winners were Leong Yoke Mun of Malaysia with 89 points (Stableford), Thailand’s Chaturong Tamkimhong (87-Group A), Kuan Kim Hong of Malaysia (89-Group B), Kok Tack Sang of Malaysia (85-Group C), Anselmo Rodriguez (83-Group D), and Liow Chee Hwa of Brunei (87-Group E).

The tournament was sponsored by San Miguel Corp., Pagcor, Department of Tourism, Business Mirror, CrossOver 105.1 Manila, DWDM Pinas FM 95.5, Clark Development Corp., Clark Int’l. Airport Corp., Emperador Distillers, Pepsi-Cola, Orix, Metro Leasing and Finance Corp., Suncoast Brands, and Century.