Rellon, Puyat bag Samsung national pro-am crown

DAVAO, Philippines  – Veteran Ernie Rellon and ace amateur Marcel Puyat outdueled the Boboy Jaraula-Raymond Jaraula and Randy Garalde-Ryan Co tandems in a final round shootout to capture the Davao National Pro-Am crown presented by Samsung with a closing 75 at the Apo Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

Rellon and Puyat proved steadier than their second round co-leaders in another challenging day at Apo, hitting two early birdies to cushion the impact of a shaky windup in the alternate-shot format event and essay a three-shot victory over the Garalde-Co pair with a 37-38 card for a 54-hole aggregate of 220.

Garalde and Co birdied the last two holes for a 78 as they nipped the Jaraulas, who floundered with a 41 at the back for a 78, in the countback for runner-up honors in the P1 million event sponsored by Samsung in coordination with Emcor. Both teams wound up with 223s.

The victory, worth P172,000, snapped a long title drought for Rellon and a big boost for Puyat, who just came from helping Team Philippines to a sixth-place finish in the recent Nomura Cup. Puyat, playing out of Stanford University, took home merchandise and trophy.

With Garalde and Co fumbling with three straight bogeys, the Rellon-Puyat pair and the Jaraulas fought it out for the lead with the former wresting control with birdies on Nos. 4 and 6 before reeling back with bogey and a double bogey on Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, for a 40, enabling the Del Monte bets to regain the lead with a 37.

The Jaraulas actually took the lead as Rellon and Puyat bogeyed No. 10 and remained on top until No. 14 before fumbling with a disastrous triple-bogey 7 on No. 15. They dropped out of title contention with two bogeys in the last three holes.

Garalde took home P116,000 for his runner-up effort while Boboy Jaraula settled for P68,000 even as their amateur partners received corresponding merchandise and trophies in the event backed by Kawasaki, Apo Golf and Country Club, Cargo Serv, Goetz, Transworld, Malayan Insurance, Dasia Security, LVL Construction and Vigor Construction.

Rellon and Puyat failed to hit any birdie at the back but came through with a couple of clutch pars to preserve the lead they took at No. 15.

 Eddie Bagtas and Aris Mata shot a 77 and placed fourth with a 224 while Antonio Asistio and Brent Sumampong (81) and first round leaders Elmer Salvador and Ludwig Ledesma (77) finished tied for fifth at 227.

Three teams – Raul Minoza-Bunny Abano (81), Jun Bernis-Toffee Tionko (77) and Ferdie Aunzo-Monchit Macay (73) ended up with identical 228s for a share of seventh while the Rufino Bayron-Chikoy Saavedra pair placed 10th with a 229 after a 73.

Frankie Minoza and partner Ting Castillo skied to an 72 and ended up in joint 15thwith three others at 233.

The other backers of the event were Skygo, Camel, JD Alvarado Architects, RDV Printing, Koppel, Unicenter, The Hive, Business Mirror, Microtel Davao, Air Philippines Express, Footjoy and TItleist by Empire Golf, Mizuno, Custom Clubmakers, Glucoscare and Omnisource Int’l.