Corporate Cup draws big field

MANILA, Philippines - A huge field of 78 teams, the biggest in years, will tee off tomorrow at the John Hay Golf Club in Baguio City, each raring to go not only for top honors in the Camp John Hay Philippine Corporate Cup but also for a piece of history as champion of the annual event’s silver staging.

Although the host club enjoys the so-called home-court edge, the title chase in various divisions remains wide open with all teams all-primed up for the four-day tournament featuring the country’s top golfing firms and organizations.

The event has also lured foreign teams, including Aloha, Delta Airlines, Texas and Team Guam while San Miguel Corp., Repsol-Imarflex, Toyota, Shakey’s and Ricoh banner the corporate teams vying in the event founded by former Philippine Sports Commission chairman Cecil Hechanova in 1989.

Camp John Hay Golf Club and Camp John Hay Seniors dominated their respective divisions last year and are out to retain the crown in the tournament, now headed by Southwoods chair Bob Sobrepeña, sponsored by The Manor at Camp John Hay, RizGolf Sports Marketing, Ricoh Philippines, Titania Wine Cellar, Nice Day Coffee and Le Chef.

The Premier Cars BMW is the tournament shuttle with Manor Hotel as tournament and special events venue of the four-to-play, three-to-count format event, which will use the Molave scoring system.

Toyota Baguio is putting a brand-new Innova J for an ace in the event which also stakes a Kymco Visa R110 Motorcycle and Gadgets, Wines & BMW Golf Lifestyle products for hole-in-one feats.

All par-3s offer special prizes.

Led by individual medalist Bong Mandapat, CJHGC pooled a 314 to beat Team Baguio (299). The other members of the team are Shean Bedi, Goody Ignacio and Oh Kyung Ja.

Their senior counterparts are composed of Nelson Eslao, Park Jong Won, Fred Puckett and Clyde Cabreros. The CJH Seniors assembled a 319 to post a 30-point victory over Haciendas de Naga.

But a slew of others, including last year’s third placer A-1 Driving School (seniors) and Camp John Hay Suites (Group I), will be out to foil the hosts’ bid in the event, which also features competitions in Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Also going for back-to-back title romps are Rural Bankers (Group 2), Interconnect Systems, Inc. (Group 3), and Imarflex Battery Mfg. Corp. (Group 4).