Cebu teams hold on to lead in PAL Interclub golf tilt

Cebuano teams Cebu Country Club (CCC) and Club Filipino padded their leads in their respective divisions as the 66th Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament enters its final day of competition today at the CCC in Cebu City and Mactan Island Golf Club in Lapu-Lapu City.

Championship division defending champions CCC fortified its back-to-back title bid by adding 125 points in yesterday’s penultimate day while Club Filipino also pulled away with a 99-point production in the Sportwriters’ division.

CCC enjoys a nine-stroke lead with its sub-total of 375 points, while its closest pursuer Del Monte dropped to third place with 364 points. After three days of competition, Alabang climbed up to second place with 367 points.

CCC general manager Jeric Hechanova said they would not say that the team is very confident despite playing today’s last day at their hometurf at the CCC.

He said the team is pleased they are leading the competition going into the last day at their homecourt. But he said they won’t take any chances and will field their strongest lineup today.

This lineup will be composed of skipper Ramontito Garcia, Mark Dy, Marko Sarmiento, Japanese teener Gen Nagai and former club champion Eric Deen.

“They really know what to do because they know this course. If they should start badly, they should not panic because this course is like their second home,” Hechanova said.

NO PRESSURE

Despite playing at the unfamiliar and tight course of the Mactan Island Golf Club, Lloyd Jefferson Go posted the highest score for CCC after finishing with a level-par 72 worth 36 points.

Nagai and Carl Almario each contributed 31 points while Andre Borromeo’s 27 points completed the team’s penultimate-day output.

Nagai will spearhead CCC today while Garcia will be part of the mop-up group.

“There will be no pressure. When we were lording it over in the Founders (division), these same men have been so used to playing under immense pressure,” said Garcia.

Cebuano team Club Filipino, which played at the CCC course yesterday, also strengthened its hold of the top spot in the Sportwriters division with a 99-point output for a sub-total of 298 points.

Posting the highest score at 27 was Raymond Garcia. Team captain Evans Tumaliwan added 25, Shotaro Suda contributed 24 and Victor Yuvallos capped the team’s performance with 23.

Garcia said for today’s final day, the team will be fielding players who are familiar with the course in Mactan like Jufil Sato, Baltaire Balangauan, Hospicio Razon, Teodoro Almario and Fernando Mondares.

Should the team clinch the title, Garcia said this will be the first time they’ll accomplish this in Cebu in recent history. This is the first time that the team is playing in the Sportswriters division. Last year, the team finished in the top five in the Friendship division.

“The key to winning this tournament for all divisions is the Mactan course. Mactan is a different course while the CCC course is similar to any other course,” Garcia said.

He said the team’s success is attributed to Tumaliwan’s good strategy of fielding players according to their course familiarity.

“Homecourt advantage is really big that is why our strategy is like that,” Garcia said.

OTHER DIVISIONS

In the Founders division, Day 1 leader leader Orchard took back the lead it lost to Negros after scoring 108 yesterday for a total score of 340.

Southwoods climbed up to second with yesterday’s output of 109, giving the team a current total of 337 while Negros dropped to third with a dismal 99-point performance.

Fil-Am Hawaii continues to pace the Friendship division with 58 for a sub-total of 230. Trailing at second is Pittsburg with 75 for 216 while SFO Crystal Springs takes over the third spot with 86 for 203.