Villamor, Apo pace Luzvimin invitational golf

BACOLOD , Philippines   â€“ Villamor I pooled 172 Molave points to open a big 10-point lead over former champion Manila Southwoods in the Emerald Division while Apo Golf and Davao City seized control in their respective classes at the start of the 2013 WGAP Luzvimin Golf Invitational in Murcia, Negros Occidental here Thursday.

Harmie Constantino hit three birdies and 10 pars worth 52 points, Samantha Martirez and Jo Barredo had one birdie each for 51 and 40 points, respectively, while Marie Guerrero added a 29 to complete Villamor I’s impressive start of 172 at the soggy Bacolod Golf and Country Club layout.

Nancy Tsay and Ting Yupangco didn’t count with 25 and 23 points, respectively, in the seven-to-play, four-to-count format event organized by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines.

Southwoods, whose four-year reign was stopped by Del Monte in Cagayan de Oro last year, assembled a 162 as Christine Naidoo and Marie Claire Ong scored 42 and 41 points, respectively, and Katrina Gonzalez and Beachie Abiera backed them up with 40 and 39, respectively.

Bacolod is in third with a 160 followed by Negros Occidental I (155), Del Monte (151), Forest Hills I (137), Riviera (126), Orchard I (122) and Manila Golf (120) in that order.

Irene Shinmura fired 45 points, Gemma Bokawachi had 36, Imee Garcia scored 30 and Mereane Siason made 29 as Apo Golf put up a 140 to post a 14-point lead over Southwoods II (126) in Ruby division. Forest Hills II had a 123 for third while Victorias scored a 115 for fourth followed by Camp Aguinaldo (100), Orchard II (84) and Iloilo II (76), respectively.

Davao City, with Virginia Hermiston, Josephine Vergara, Rohelym Revilleza and Roselyn Sara scoring 39, 34, 28 and 27, respectively, took charge with a 128 for a whopping 18-point lead over Negros Occidental in the Pearl division of the tournament reduced to 36 holes after some teams coming from storm-hit Manila failed to arrive due to cancelled flights earlier in the week.

Negros Occidental had a 110 while Villamor took third spot at 98 followed by Pueblo de Oro (83) and Baguio (81) while Valley Golf wrested control in the Special Division with a 144, 50 points ahead of Alabang and Iloilo, which assembled 94 and 89, respectively.

Constantino and Martirez also paced the individual race with 52 and 51 points, respectively, with Rainstar Roque of Del Monte in third with 47.