Manila Southwoods off to blistering start, posts 12-point edge

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Four-peat-seeking Manila Southwoods looked poised to deliver the early knockout punch on its challengers.

With eagle-firing Taisei Shimizu spearheading a sizzling opening-day performance, the Carmona-based titlists stormed to a 12-point headstart in the Philippine Airlines Regular Men’s Championship yesterday at Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club here.

The debuting Japanese Shimizu torched the par-70 course with a two-under 68 spiked by an eagle on No. 12 worth 38 points, sparking Southwoods’ hot 140-point outing against the 128 of “surprise” No. 2 Luisita, the disappointing 119 of Canlubang, and the 110 by Del Monte.

So hot was Southwoods’ round that Yuto Katsuragawa, the team’s top gunner who fired a 42 in their 2017 victory in Davao, didn’t count in the final tally for Day One.

Katsuragawa limped with a six over 76, his day marred by bogeys in the last five holes, for a team-low 30. But this was more than offset by Chepe Dulay, who submitted the only other sub-par round of 69, for 37 points and veteran Jun jun Plana and Jama Reyes, who contributed a 34 and 31, respectively.

“That (140) was what I asked them to hit. I was thinking we’d even break 140 but I’m happy,” said Southwoods captain Thirdy Escaño.

Not given much attention in the run-up to the tournament, Luisita took second position ahead of Cangolf.

Leandro Luis Bagtas, 13, submitted 36 points off his eagle-aided 70 while Rodel Mangulabnan and Dan Cruz accounted for 31 markers apiece and Don Petil came up with 30.

“We’re actually very surprised because we didn’t expect to be in this position right now,” said Luisita skipper Jeric Hechanova. “We’re just actually trying to see if we can go for third but our players played well in the back nine.”

Left behind in the blitz were the Sugar Barons, who got 31 from Lester Lagman, 30 from Gido Mandanas, and 29 each from Rupert Zaragoza, their most seasoned bet, and Carlo Villaroman.

“They (Southwoods) were much better than us,” said Cangolf boss Luigi Yulo. “The breaks were not with us, we missed a lot of birdie putts, they got disheartened, you know how this goes in a pressure-packed tournament like this.”

The field goes to the Binitin course today for Round 2, where the pursuers try to close the distance.

“Tomorrow 140 should still be good since it’s a tough course,” said Escano.

“We have to pick up some, hopefully. I’ve been here long enough to realize that might be an insurmountable 20-point (deficit) but we’ll give it a shot; there are three days to go, we’ll give it our shot, we’ll see how it goes,” said Yulo.

This year’s Interclub’s Platinum sponsors are RMN and Manila Times, while major sponsors are Mastercard, The Philippine Manila Standard, Rolls Royce, Bombardier, TV5, Primax, BusinessWorld, Crossover and Fox with Boeing, Pagcor, Belmonte Hotel, Eton Properties and Asia Brewery, Inc. as the other backers.