Garcia-Badillo tops Mango Tee; ex-pro cager shines

MANILA, Philippines - Roland Garcia and Mario Badillo came from behind to claim the overall net plum even as former PBA coach George Gallent and Junjun Plana took the low gross trophy in the blockbuster 29th edition of the Mango Tee, the member-guest tournament of the Alabang Country Club.

Consistency did the trick for Garcia and Badillo who were four points behind after an opening 77 but a 78 in their next round sent them past the frontrunners of the six-day tourney presented by Petron, Smart Infinity, Pancake House and Yellow Cab and participated in by 800 players.

With their 155 aggregate, Garcia and Badillo won by three points over the tandem Ronald Nuñez and Joaquin Tolentino whose 152 total gave them the Class B trophy.

The battle for the low gross plum was even tighter with former cage pro-turned-coach Gallent and partner Plana beating JB Garcia-King Stehmeier by just a point, 139-138. Stehmeier almost won it for his team after shooting a sizzling five-under gross of 67 in medal play in their final round.

Sherwin Villareal and Ernest Banaag topped Class A after beating Powee Tugade and Jed Rosero in the countback, Raymund Aguilar and David Ng (147) beat Ricardo Crisostomo-Gen. Rey Velasco (145) in Class C and Gov. Joey Laurel-Ace Stehmeier (145) took the Class D trophy by three over Gil Yuzon-Bibly Macaya.

Major sponsors of the event are BPI Assets, Eurotel, Golforce, The Turf Co., Pepsi, GNC and BJ Marthel.  Hole sponsors include Chinatrust, Airfreight 2100 Inc., Atty. Boy Sta. Ana, City Service Corp., Prudential Customs Brokerage, GG&A Clubshares, Loopex Packaging, Machine Technology Asia, Maritime Technology, MIS, Petrolift, Safe Seas, Security Bank, Alveo, Ayala Land Premier and G&W Clubshares.

Providing support are Hungry Hippo, Rudy Project, Pernod Ricard/Chivas Regal, Foid Details, Omnisource, Club 357, TW Steel, Suarez&Sons, Meister, Maybank, Business Mirror and Outback Steakhouse.