Cebu rarin’ for back-to-back in PAL golf

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Defending champion Cebu Country Club is putting its best foot forward as the 66th Philippine Airlines Interclub men’s championship tees off today at the Mactan Island Golf Club in Lapu-Lapu City.

The hosts will shoot for the early lead in their bid for a second straight title in this prestigious golf team tournament.

“We want to make a statement early. We want to come up with an opening-day effort that would announce that we are really dead serious in repeating as champions,” Cebu CC’s Jeric Hechanova said yesterday.

Cebu CC is fielding veteran Bayani Garcia and youthful LJ Go together with ex-pro Carl Almario, lawyer Jovi Neri and Mark Dy in its effort to build some early cushion over the others vying for the title and all the bragging rights.

But it’s not going to be easy because not even the host team can claim familiarity with the Mactan layout with its slow greens.

“The best that we have over the other teams is that we have played Mactan maybe three times more than they have,” said Hechanova.

“What we want, if we get the strong start that we are aiming for, is to be able to come up with a steady lineup in the second and third rounds just to keep our lead. And then we will have the strongest team in the final day,” he added.

If they succeed on the first day, the hosts will feel better at home for the second round at the Cebu Country Club, a more traditional course. Then it goes back to Mactan for the third-round and again Cebu CC for the last.

Out to crowd Cebu CC in this year’s race are the equally steady teams from Del Monte and Lanang. Southwoods will always be there waiting for the opportunity to pull off a surprise.

Del Monte is hoping to weave the same magic spell that won them the title in 2011. It is fielding practically the same lineup, only this time it has a player young enough to play for a high school squad.

Alabang is another team that will be led by national pool member Andres Saldana and teenagers Keanu Jahns and Gabriel Manotoc, and Southwoods a mix of both youth and experience.

The PAL Interclub is being sponsored by the Department of Tourism, 105.1 Crossover, Solar Sports, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, 92.3 FM Radyo 5, Araneta Coliseum and AXN. Major sponsors are Airbus, Manila Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine Broadcasting Network, People Asia, Radio Mindanao Network, Business Mirror and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel (TFC).

Corporate sponsors include Radisson Blu Hotel, Shangri-La Resort & Spa, Boeing and Philippines Graphic.