The Cebu Country Club (CCC) made history after becoming the first Cebuano team to clinch back-to-back titles in the Men’s Regular division of the 66th Philippine Airline Interclub Golf Tournament yesterday at the CCC and Mactan Island Golf Club in Lapu-Lapu City.
CCC general manager Jeric Hechanova said the team is very happy to defend the Men’s Regular title, especially since they were under pressure for playing half of the tournament at their homecourt.
He added that they are very proud to be the first Cebuano team to have achieved the feat of becoming back to back champions in the Men’s Regular division.
“CCC has won a lot of titles when it was still playing in the Founders division,” said Hechanova. “But this time, we can say that we are the best out of the 75 teams because this is the Championship division. We won the overall title and we are very pleased and happy and we share the honor and award to other members of the club.”
According to Hechanova, they were not expecting to win their second straight title, especially since they had to play minus their ace golfer, Gio Gandionco, who is now in the U.S.
They had to find a suitable replacement to fill in the gap created by his absence.
However, they banked on the fact that they were more comfortable playing in their homecourt.
“Luckily, the team was able to collectively defend the title,” said Hechanova.
As early as now, Hechanova said they are already excited about next year’s tournament.
“Our advantage is that our players will be here for a very long time while Del Monte and Alabang are manned by young players who will move on to become professionals in a few years,” Hechanova said.
NO PRESSURE
CCC showed none of the pressure it was feeling as Mark Dy fired a two-under-par 70 worth 38 points with Marko Sarmiento adding 33 points. Skipper Ramontito Garcia chipped in 31 and veteran member Eric Deen capped the team’s performance with 30 points.
The team finished with a total of 507 points, posting a 16-point victory over young Alabang, which finished with 491 while Del Monte settled for third place with 485 points.
The Cebuanos also made waves in the Sportswriters Division. Two Cebuano teams put up satisfactory performances with Club Filipino taking the title while Mactan Island finally climbed up to finish at third after having lurked at fourth since the competition entered Day 2.
Club Filipino grabbed the title with a total of 400 points, anchored by Fernando Mondares’ 30 points.
The rest of the team’s points were contributed by Hospicio Razon (27), Shotaro Suda (25) and Teodoro Almario (20).
Second place went to Zamboanga with 385 while third placer Mactan Island posted 375 points.
Orchard held on to its lead to lord it over in the Founders division with a total score of 472.
Negros managed to end at second place with 457 while third place went to Southwoods with 451.
In the Friendship division, Fil-Am Hawaii went on to take the title with 299 points while SFO Crystal Springs improved its performance to finish at second with 278 and Pittsburg settled for third place with 273 points.
The PAL Interclub is being sponsored by the Department of Tourism, 105.1 Crossover, Solar Sports, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, 92.3 FM Radyo 5, Araneta Coliseum and AXN. Major sponsors are Airbus, Manila Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine Broadcasting Network, People Asia, Radio Mindanao Network, Business Mirror and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel (TFC).
Corporate sponsors include Radisson Blu Hotel, Shangri-La Resort & Spa, Boeing, Inquirer Golf Magazine, Philippines Graphic and Manila Bulletin. /with pr