CCC rules again!

“A BURLY good tournament!”

Mike T. Limpag

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Bayani Garcia and members of the Cebu Country Club men’s team screamed after their runaway win in the championship division of the PAL Interclub at their home course yesterday.

Over at the Mactan Island Golf Club, another Cebu team, Club Filipino, was celebrating another runaway win in the Sportswriters Division in just its first foray after getting upgraded from the Friendship Division.

Garcia, who has been ribbed by teammates for being described as “burly” every time his name gets mentioned in the national papers, and the other members of the CCC team were just waiting to celebrate as Mark Dy tapped in his putt for par in the final hole for a

38, capping CCC’s impressive 132 points in the final round.

CCC finished with 507 after a final day push that saw it double its lead over Alabang at 491 (116-128-122-125), despite another impressive showing by the Manila club’s Filipino German player Keanu Jahns, who had 40 points. Del Monte, which was second after the first day, sputtered with a final score of 121 for third place at 485.

Dy knew he had to deliver in the final day after getting assigned in the final flight.

“When the captain assigned me in the last flight, it was a confidence-booster,” said Dy, whose 26 in the first round wasn’t counted.

“The most reliable player usually gets assigned in the final.”

And he showed the confidence was well-placed as the player who set CCC’s best single-round score of 40 points in Del Monte in 2007 set a new mark, this time for the best final-round score equivalent to 2-under par.

“We were just nine up and I knew I had to do really well to defend the title,” said Dy, a 10-year veteran of the PAL Interclub.

Though they had reasons to be cautious, CCC’s second straight title was never in doubt in the final day, with Ramontito Garcia setting the tone with a 31. There was a minor hiccup after Gen Nagai, who scored a 31 in the difficult Mactan Island Golf Club, had a relatively low 28, but Marco Sarmiento came up with a big 33 points in the next flight and Eric Deen delivered 30 points.

Winning tradition

And when Dy dropped his putt for par in the final hole, members of the team rushed to him and lifted him, while CCC general manager Jeric Hechanova gave the cue and the club blasted the “We are the Champions” song, and the waiters popped three bottles of champagne for the victors.

Dy said that despite taking a one-point lead in day one, the title was still up for grabs, but for another 10-year veteran Jovi Neri, this was just the latest in CCC’s winning tradition in the PAL Interclub.

“It’s something not new to us,” said Neri, who had 30 and 33 points in the first two rounds. The lawyer-golfer also pointed out that while the focus in the national media was on the championship division, they’ve also been winning the Founders Division for years.

CCC was elevated to the Championship Division just last year after winning six titles in seven years in the Founders Division.

For the CCC chairman, it was a double celebration as last week, the seniors team won its first Founders title.

“The team is very happy, they prepared very hard and we took advantage of our strong points,” said Hechanova, while adding that their final day lineup was their strongest.

Ramontito, who also played in the seniors team, is an eight-time club champion, while Nagai is the current jungolf champion and Sarmiento is the men’s champion. Dy is a reigning stroke-play medal and Deen is a six-time club champion.

The other members of the CCC team are LJ Go, who had 32 and 36 in the first and third rounds and Carl Almario, who had 26 and 31. The newcomer is Andre Borromeo, who accounted for himself well with 30 and 27 in the second and third rounds.

“So they (final round lineup) were really used to dealing with pressure, “said Hechanova. “But after the first six holes, when Alabang failed to get points from us, I knew wala na.”

Over at Mactan, Club Filipino had its best round despite a disqualification to finish with an even 400 (99-100-99-102), finishing 15 points clear of first day leader Zamboanga 385 (108-83-99-95).

Fernando Mondares led the team with 30, while Hospicio Razon had 27. Shutaro Shoad had 25 points and Teodorio Almario had 20. Jufil Sato, who scored 24 points on the second day when they took the lead, was disqualified. The other members of the team who played in the early rounds are Evans Tumaliwan, Baltaire Balangahan, Victor Yuvallos and Raymond Garcia.

Blunder

Co-host Mactan had the best round with 106 to take third place at 376 (102-84-84-106), two points ahead of Saranggani.

Pio Barandog had the best score with 33, while Kim Eric Agatep and Elvis Jequinto had 26 and 24 points. Bam Jamorabo also had 23 points.

Mactan’s final round push at least made up for its third day blunder, when Nilo Seno, who had 22 points, was disqualified. If Seno’s score was counted in the third day, Mactan could have been second at 391 points.

The other members of the Mactan team are Marlo Cugtas, Boyet Dizon, Andrew Cañete and Raymund Elefante.