DAVAO – Manila Southwoods put the finishing touches to the club’s first-ever “three-peat” in the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub Men’s Championship yesterday, winning the tournament’s 70th edition by 44 points despite posting its worst score of the week.
The veteran Jun Jun Plana fired a three-over-par 75 worth 33 points at Apo Golf and anchored a closing 120 for the Carmona-based parbusters, who tallied an eye-popping 547 to win this one pulling away from archrival Canlubang.
Southwoods spiced up its franchise’s first hat trick with two bits of history in what is regarded as the country’s unofficial team golf championship, as the margin of victory was the biggest ever recorded.
The champions in 2015 in Cebu and last year in Pampanga also became the first team to have all five players cracking par in a single round, pulling out the feat on Friday with a 155-point effort.
“I have so much respect for Canlubang,” Southwoods non-playing skipper Thirdy Escano said, refusing to be drawn away by how much they dominated this year’s field. “It was just that we had such a great third round (at Rancho Palos Verdes).”
Tom Kim fired 30 points, former Junior World champion Kristoffer Arevalo added 29 and Southwoods counted the 28 of Jets Sajulga before throwing away the 27 or Ira Alido in the final round.
Starting the day 38 points behind, the Sugar Barons were obviously out of the running. But Cangolf still failed to put a dent on Southwoods as Ruper Zaragosa and Gido Mandanas fired 32s in a 114-point day.
“I’m sure Canlubang will bounce back next year from this one,” Escano said. “That’s why we will stay with our program and continue to train players worthy of seeing action here.”
Carlo Villaroman and Marco Olives shot 25s, and Cangolf discarded the 24 of Bambam Santos.
Del Monte, meanwhile, amassed a day-best 123 points and went on to steal third spot from Luisita, as Jelbert Gamolo matched par and Mel Cubillo contributed 32.
Former pro Raul Minoza fired 28 points and Rolando Bregente chipped in with 27 for the final Del Monte card and a 472 total, just six points behind the Sugar Barons.
Don Petil’s 29 led Luisita, which closed out with a measly 106 and lost a grip of third spot, its realistic target for the tournament. Josh Jorge and Luis Bagtas fired 26 apiece while Senior standout Eddie Bagtas, after firing 36 points on Friday, slowed down considerably with 25.
The 70th PAL Interclub Platinum sponsors are Mareco Broadcasting Network, A&E Networks Asia, RMN Networks, The Manila Standard, Fox Networks Group, Rolls-Royce, TV5, MasterCard, TFC and Business Mirror.
Major sponsors include Asian Air Safari, Airbus, Primax Broadcasting Network and Sabre Airline Solutions while Corporate sponsors are Baron Travel Corporation, Boeing, MX3, GE Aviation, Bombo Radyo Philippines, Asia Brewery, Tanduay Distillers, Sabre Airline Solutions and Tourism Promotions Board.
Donors are Shangri-La at The Fort, Trinity Insurance and Eton Properties.
Partial scores:
Championship
Manila Southwoods 547 (136-136-155-120), Canlubang 503 (125-133-131-114), Del Monte 472 (111-127-111-123), Luisita 467 (115-117-129-106)
PAL Interclub: Orchard wins Founders
Lost in Manila Southwoods’ dominance of the just-ended 70th Philippine Airlines Interclub golf team championships were the close battles in the other divisions in Davao City.
Orchard captured the second-tier Founders division, holding off Forest Hills’ final day rally by three points.
Rodel Mangulabnan and Niko Santiano scored 31 and 30 points to lead Orchard which was outscored by Forest Hills by 15 points at the Palos Rancho Verdes.
Orchard struggled with 117 points in the final round with Aaron Dimabuyu (29) and Raymund Sangil (27) rounding out its scorers.
Forest Hills got a big lift from former national player Jude Eustaquio to close out with 132 points.
Eustaquio eagled the par-5, No. 8 and had four birdies against three bogeys and a pickup.
The other Forest Hills scorers were Inigo Raymundo 33, Ronnie Littaua 33 and Peter Young 29.
In another close fight for third place, Valley nipped Riviera and Cebu Country Club with 468 points.
Valley rode on Enrico Gallardo’s 36 points to finish with 125 points, a point ahead of Riviera (112) and three clear of CCC (111).
In the Sportswriters’ division, Sarangani finished two points ahead of Sta. Elena to claim the crown.
Led by Arthur Ong’s 29 points, Sarangani completed the come-from-behind win by scoring 109 points at the Apo Golf and Country Club Saturday for 377 points.
Sta. Elena settled for second with 375 followed by Mactan Island with 368 points.
PGA of British Columbia won the Friendship class with 331 points, five points ahead of Camp Aguinaldo.
Art Makalintal and Jesse Castillo turned in 27 and 24 points, respectively to lead PGA British Columbia.
Third place went to KGC Boys Club Melbourne with 321 points.
Sherwood Hills, on the other hand, posted a comfortable 31-point victory over Lumbia in the Aviator division.
Drawing firepower from Harry Paltongan (27), Nestor Sevilla (25) and Nicolae Eribert Sevilla (24), Sherwood tallied 93 points at Apo for 413 points.
Lumbia was second with 382 and Davao City Golf third with 375.
The 70th PAL Interclub Platinum sponsors are Mareco Broadcasting Network, A&E Networks Asia, RMN Networks, The Manila Standard, Fox Networks Group, Rolls-Royce, TV5, MasterCard, TFC and Business Mirror.
Major sponsors include Asian Air Safari, Airbus, Primax Broadcasting Network and Sabre Airline Solutions while Corporate sponsors are Baron Travel Corporation, Boeing, MX3, GE Aviation, Bombo Radyo Philippines, Asia Brewery, Tanduay Distillers, Sabre Airline Solutions and Tourism Promotions Board.
Donors are Shangri-La at The Fort, Trinity Insurance and Eton Properties.
The results:
Founders
Orchard 480 (123-116-124-117), Forest Hills 477 (117-115-113-132), Valley Golf 468 (107-118-118-125), Riviera 467 (116-117-122-112), Cebu 465 (113-122-119-111), Apo 455 (112-120-120-103), Tagaytay Highlands 455 (117-105-112-121), Villamor 450 (120-105-111-114), Pueblo de Oro 443 (106-110-114-113), Wack Wack 431 (120-97-102-112), Negros Occidental 422 (103-104-107-108), Rancho Palos Verdes 422 (105-103-99-115), Alabang 420 (100-98-107-115), Socal Redhawk 395 (103-98-99-95)
Aviator
Sherwood Hills 413 (106-113-101-93), Lumbia 382 (106-105-88-83), Davao 375 (91-89-97-98), Manila 372 (89-89-101-93), Eagle Ridge 361 (81-83-108-89), Alta Vista 361 (93-88-99-81), Tagaytay Midlands 347 (59-111-99-78), Iloilo 336 (88-79-77-92), Club Filipino de Cebu 324
(74-81-91-78), Fil Am Hawaii 320 (71-85-86-78), Victoria’s 247 (85-75-94-18), Vancouver Golf ABC 222 (61-42-68-51), Greenhills West (219 (61-49-62-47), Pinoy Vancouver 163 (60-52-19-32)
Sportswriter
Sarangani 377 (80-91-97-109), Sta Elena 375 (84-97-11-83), Mactan Island 368 (87-99-84-98), Stanford 362 (96-78-106-82), Philippine Navy 347 (85-82-107-73), Zamboanga 343 (83-92-101-67), Camp Evangelista 338(77-90-82-89), Fil Am Fairfield 335 (69-99-80-87), Guinhalaran 329
(84-81-85-79), Up Tee Jots 325 (81-94-88-62), Bacolod 312 (63-84-80-85), Team Iligan 308 (69-71-82-86), Cotabato 306 (70-59-88-89), Camp John Hay 303 (72-79-63-89), SF Maharlika 301 (67-71-75-88), Team Brookside 297 (63-63-85-86), Dagupan 287 (81-77-55-74), Bay Area 259 (62-81-48-68), Mabuhay Golf 229 (58-56-58-57), Melbourne Pinoy 207 (62-17-88-40),
Seattle 202 (45-44-45-68), Greater Vancouver 154 (50-40-25-39), South Bay 122 (54-68-0-0)
Friendship
PGA of British Columbia 331 (95-99-71-66), Camp Aguinaldo 326 (75-98-58-95), KGC Boys Melbourne 321 (74-90-69-88), South Cotabato 317 (71-87-69-90), Lanang 293 (66-79-77-71), Pearl Kai Hawaii 287 (69-77-69-72), San Juanico 279 (74-62-67-76), Silicon Valley 266
(68-59-76-63), San Francisco Crystal Springs 264 (64-64-76-60), Van City 260 (63-65-60-72), Filipino Golfers 253 (72-49-61-71), Skywest 248 (67-52-64-65), Filipino Golfers Assc Kuwait Team 1 248 (56-45-73-74), MSU 247 (71-55-61-60), Green Tee Riyahd 244 (57-62-67-58), Pittsburg Fil Am 237 (61-47-76-53), Parbreakers 219 (57-60-56-46), Baguio 206 (40-58-61-47), Filipino Golfers Abu Dhabi 185 (43-58-40-44), Washington DC 181 (51-45-35-50), Mt Malindang 173 (54-33-69-17), Filipino Golfer UAE 168 (32-47-49-40), NZ Black Tee 167 (57-69-41-0), Moffet Field 154 (47-32-52-23), Fil Oz Sydney 142 (38-46-26-32), Yokohama Eagles 141 (38-40-32-31), Filipino Golfers Assc Kuwait Team 2 86 (10-18-30-28)