THE Cebu Country Club mounted its longest preparation for the PAL interclub, hoping to end its title drought.
So far, it’s working. The host took the lead in the first round of the Founders Division after scoring 124 points, five ahead of the Orchard Golf and Country Club.
Harvey Sytiongsa capped the day for the host as he posted 34 points in CCC’s last flight. First-year captain and 18-year veteran Marco Sarmiento scored 33 points, while Marc Gonzalez had 32. Eric Deen, who also played in the senior tournament last week, had 25, while the 25 of Hugu Saurat wasn’t counted.
“The course was very difficult. It was very windy, and the greens were very fast. Those three good games really catapulted us over the rest,” said Sarmiento, whose team had been preparing for this event since November.
Today, CCC will field Martin Mendoza, Mark Dy, Jayjay Alvarezs, Pio Neri and rookie Saurat for the second round at the Mactan Island Golf and Country Club.
“Anything over 120 points is very good for us,” said Sarmiento. “We practice in Mactan a lot and we have players who are very confident in the course.”
Sarmiento thinks that how the teams fare in the next two rounds--which will all be at Mactan--will determine their fate.
“Historically, it’s always been decided at Mactan,” he said.
Sarmiento said the team had a longer preparation this year because they want to do better than last year, when they finished out of the top three for the second straight year.
“In my 18 years in the Interclub, this has been the longest preparation. Of course, we want to do better. The pressure is higher for us since we are at home but we are not settling for anything less.”
Meanwhile, Francis Lanuza scored 32 points for Orchard, which also got 30 points each from Zachary Castro and Joaquin Hernandez. Michael Stacey had 29 points for the team.
In the Sportswriters Division, defending champion Mactan took the first round lead after scoring 92, nine ahead of Camp John Hay.
Alfredo Cavajar led the team with 36, while Armand Guangko had 23. Gerardo Catindoy added 19 and Victor Radaza scored 14. (ML)