La Salle cops inter-collegiate title over Lyceum

MANILA, Philippines - De La Salle University banked on its championship experience to topple the gutsy challenge of Lyceum, 3–1, in the fifth Inter-Collegiate Golf team match play championship recently hosted by the Philippine Golf Foundation (PGF).

The first round of the championship, which looked like a junior golf reunion with all the players coming from the jungolf program, saw the Pirates force a draw on the Green Archers’ home course at Sherwood Hills.

Lyceum’s duo of Carlos Tinio III and Agustin Mata won the best ball format 4 and 3 over La Salle’s Allan Guy and Gino Bunyi, while the Archers’ Marvin Mendoza and Eric Gallardo carved out a 1 up victory in the Hi–Low format over Patrick Uy and Lawrence Celestino.

The teams then headed to The Orchard the following week, home course of Lyceum, for the home and away finals series where La Salle used the same pairs while Lyceum brought in Wolen Superal to play the Hi-Low format.

The Pirates held a 2 up lead in the best ball format on the eighth hole but were 3 down in the hi-low format. Bunyi nailed three birdies from 8 to 12 while Guy completed the five birdie barrage with two of his own on the 13 and 14 for 3 up advantage.

The match ended 2 and 1.

Gallardo and Mendoza, on the other hand, cruised to a 3-1 victory over Superal and Celestino.

It was La Salle’s fourth title in five years, although the Finals presence of Lyceum only proved the fruits of the recruitment and development efforts of team manager Frank Pacifico who is busy preparing the LPU team for next season.

DLSU golf mentor Ferdie Atendido has also mentioned that the College of Saint Benilde and the University of the Philippines are dead set to challenge DLSU in Season 6. Other participants are UST and Ateneo.