CEBU, Philippines – Dennis Canoy and Masahisa Kawakami carried their A Team to victory in Group 1 and led an expected strong show by Cebu entries in the fourth and final leg of the Sta. Lucia Golf Tour at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club here.
Canoy fired 100 Molave points and Kawakami made 87 as the duo which topped the international third leg in Bangkok, Thailand lifted teammates Antonio Sabuga (93) and Edgardo Acain (85) to the top in the centerpiece division of the four-to-play, three-to-count team competition capping a five-month series.
It didn’t come easy, however, as the Cebuano quartet needed to prevail in the countback over the Davao Eagle team of Joel Yamyamin, Victoriano Gonzales, Eduardo Wee and Tamio Sakurai with the last day 44 of Acain against the 40 of Wee.
The Super Gwapo squad composed of Gerry Quintos (82), Nestor Mendoza (76), Alan John Larot (78) and Bernard Allan Lua (63) delivered a second victory for Alta Vista by beating the Pretty Boys also from the host club, 237-235. Royale Tagaytay, fielding the largest contingent of 32 players, landed a victory in Group IV through Team Echo made up of Orlando Aratea, Jose Escobar, Mario Mercader and Maricel Amor while Team Galaxy’s Irineo Arbues, Dante Felizarta, Antonio del Rosario and Angelito Sortijas took Group II for Eagle Ridge in the tournament organized by real estate giant Sta. Lucia Realty for members of clubs flying its green and white banner.
Team Echo, getting a combined 173 from Arbues and Del Rosario, wound up with a 212 to finish eight points ahead of SGB from Beverly Place and Team Galaxy posted a three-point win over the Atik Boys of Alta Vista.
“We wish to thank all those who spent time to join the tour and we hope everybody had fun. We’ll try to review what happened this year and make the next one even better,” said Vicente Santos who heads the Sta. Lucia Tour executive committee.
Individual winners were Jufil Sato of Team Alpha in Class A, Yuki Matsuo of D’Crooked Stick in Class B, Benjamin Hortelano of the Pretty Boys in Class C and Jose Escobar of Team Echo in Class D. Sato’s 106 was six better than the 100s of Yamyamin and Canoy; Matsuo wound up 10 points clear of Gonzales and Lino Magpantay with his 102; Hortelano, scoring an 88, edged Del Rosario by one and Escobar went three up on Sherwin Bahani and Romel Valloyas with his 74.