Southwoods caps Fil-Am golf romp

BAGUIO, Philippines – Manila Southwoods turned in its worst round in four days – a 127 – but posted its best finish in the San Miguel Fil-Am Invitational golf tournament in years – a 35-point romp over Ventureslink-AAV Builders Robros to snap a five-year spell in the annual event at the Baguio Country Club here yesterday.

With a big 30-point lead after three days, the Southwoods golfers turned the final round into a virtual practice round, attacking the pins on the par-3 littered par-61 layout with impunity and were rewarded with that 127, their lowest output in four days but still the best in the day.

Justin Quiban played the leader’s role to the hilt and closed out with a second straight 34 under the Stableford scoring system at BCC, Chepe Dulay added a 32 and Yuto Katsuragawa and Tonlits Asistio chipped in 31 and 30 points, respectively, as Manila Southwoods capped its domination of the badly-outclassed field with a 542 aggregate.

The Carmona-based squad opened with a four-point lead over San Miguel after a 144 at Camp John Hay then padded it to 13 points despite slowing down with a 142 halfway through the four-day championship presented by San Miguel Corp. and backed by hole-in-one sponsor Toyota.

“I am thankful for the boys for delivering what was expected of them. I have so much confidence in them and they rewarded me with this victory,” said team captain Thirdy Escaño, member of the last Southwoods champion squad in 2009.

Rupert Zaragosa matched Quiban’s 34, Ricar Cadinato made a 33 and Ariel Villacencio and Teody Pascual scored 28 and 27, respectively, for Ventureslink, which snatched runner-up honors with a 507 after a 122 in the 65th staging of the event supported by San Miguel Lifestyle Brews, Magnolia Ice Cream, Magnolia Purewater, Petron and San Miguel Global Power.

Quiban also capped his four-day exploits with a victory in the individual competition, edging Zaragosa by one, 147-146, to complete Manila Southwoods’ sweep of the premier championship of the event supported by G&W Clubshares, Club Malarayat, South Forbes, Baguio Country Club, Camp John Hay Golf Club, The Manor at Camp John Hay, The Forest Lodge, Camp John Hay Development Corp. and Farmers Coffee.

“Justin (Quiban) is the newest addition to the Southwoods team. I am happy and proud of his performance this week,” said Escano of his prized find.

San Miguel Corp. and last year’s champion Mizuno Superstars shot identical 116s and finished tied for third at 496 while Che’lus I made a 107 for a 475 and ended up fifth in the 72-hole tournament backed by Megafiber, Wilson Sports, Rudy Project, Le Chef at The Manor, The Turf Company, GPS Tracker, Pacsports, Ayala Land Premier and RizGolf Sports Marketing.

San Miguel, however, took the third spot after the tiebreaker after its fifth man, former pro Eddie Bagtas, shot better than Mizuno’s Ace Stehmeier, 26-24.